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VISIT TO GREECE, 
 
 1823 and 1824. 
 
 GEORGE WADDINGTON, Esq., 
 
 FELLOW or TRINIT7 COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, 
 
 AND AUTHOR OF TRAVELS IN ETHIOPIA. 
 
 THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LONDON : 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET. 
 
 M D C C C X X V. 
 
LONDON: 
 
 Printed by WILLIAM CLOVES, 
 
 Northumberland-court 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 IUTTIttODUCTION 
 
 Sect.. 1. Causes of the Greek Revolution 
 II. Constitution of the Hetaria 
 
 Page 
 
 i 
 
 xvi 
 
 III. Hetaria, Capodistrias, Alexander Yp- 
 
 silanti ...... xxx 
 
 I. D I ated, Constantinople. Events in that Capital 
 
 II. 
 III. 
 
 IV.. 
 
 V. 
 VI.. 
 VI T. 
 
 VI II 
 
 Turkish Government 
 
 Psara. Account of Psara and Samos 
 
 Syra. Account of Skyros, Syra, and 
 Tenos 
 
 Athens. Eastern Hellas . 
 
 First Siege of the Acropolis 
 
 Second Siege and Reduction 
 
 of the Acropolis 
 
 ■ ■ Massacre of the Turkish pri- 
 
 soners 
 
 I 
 14 
 
 26 
 
 33 
 39 
 
 46 
 
 55 
 65 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 IX. Dated, 
 
 X. „ 
 
 XI. „ 
 
 XII. „ 
 
 XIII. „ 
 
 XIV. „ 
 
 XV. „ 
 
 XVI. „ 
 
 XVII. „ 
 
 XVIII. „ 
 
 XIX. „ 
 
 XX. „ 
 
 XXI. „ 
 
 Athens. Present Condition of Attica, 
 Odysseus, Gourrha, &c. 
 
 i ■ State of Town, Antiquities, In- 
 habitants of Athens. Number and 
 misery of Refugees 
 
 Hydra. Account of that Island . . 
 
 ■ Greek Navy . 
 
 Napoli di Romania. Parties in 
 
 Greece 
 
 Panos Coloco- 
 
 troni. Heroines 
 
 Argos. Invasion of Dramali Pasha 
 
 Tiipolizza. Condition of that City ; 
 its Capture. Colocotroni. — 
 Demetrius Ypsilanti. — Petro 
 Bey 
 
 Public Feeling. Pro- 
 priety of European Mediation 
 
 On the Disunion of the 
 
 Greeks. Question as to their 
 Powers of Self-Government 
 
 Zante. Western Hellas. — Greek 
 Committee. — Lord Byron 
 
 - Extent and Force of the 
 
 Hellenic Republic . 
 
 Corfu. Conduct of the Ionian 
 Government .... 
 
 Page 
 
 75 
 
 89 
 101 
 114 
 
 123 
 
 129 
 138 
 
 145 
 
 153 
 
 161 
 
 169 
 
 178 
 
 184 
 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 XXII. Dated, Corfh. Ionian Neutrality .—Con- 
 
 duct of Sir Thomas Maitland 200 
 
 XXIII. „ - 
 
 Greek Blockade. — Le- 
 vant Merchants . . . 208 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I. Russian Right of Protection towards the 
 
 Christian Subjects of the Porte. — 
 Russian Project for the Pacification of 
 Greece ...... 223 
 
 II. Circumstances of the Death of Ali Pasha. 232 
 
 III. Convention of Athens .... 235 
 
 IV. Greek Funeral Oration on Lord Byron . 237 
 
 V. Circumstances of the Assassination of Is- 
 
 mael Pasha ..... 243 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 A VARIETY of circumstances are mentioned as 
 having contributed to occasion the Greek Revo- 
 lution. It has been said, that there are limits to 
 human sufferance ; that our powers of submission, 
 like our powers of action, are measured and 
 restrained ; that the miseries of Greece had at- 
 tained the boundaries allotted to them, and burst 
 out into insurrection from very impossibility of 
 further endurance. Whatever be the merits of 
 this theory, it is rendered inapplicable to the 
 
 present case, by the mere fact, that the Greeks, 
 
 during the last twenty years, at least, have lived 
 
 under a mitigated despotism. 
 
 A more philosophical reason for this event is 
 
 derived from the progressive improvement which 
 
INTRODUCTION'. 
 
 has recently elevated and invigorated the Greek 
 nation, as contrasted with the stationary imper- 
 fectibility of their adversary. It is argued with 
 truth, and acknowledged with exultation, that our 
 impatient and elastic nature cannot for ever be 
 held by the grasp of mere irrational force; that 
 what is active, and inquisitive, and enterprising, 
 cannot be for ever subject to that which is slug- 
 gish and motionless; that what has breath, and 
 life, and energy, must ultimately cast off the sense- 
 less weight which oppresses it. It was therefore 
 necessary that the Christian and advancing people 
 should, sooner or later, assert their moral supe- 
 riority over the dull and immutable Mussulman. 
 After a tedious period of oppression, the hour of 
 emancipation at last arrived; the laws of nature 
 had their course, and the event which had been 
 long maturing in the womb of time was produced 
 in the order of things, naturally and necessarily. 
 
 Unwilling and unable to advance any argument 
 against a principle so flattering to our human 
 vanity, I may still question the fact, whether the 
 Greeks had yet attained that intellectual pre- 
 eminence which reduced their emancipation to a 
 
INTRODUCTION. Ill 
 
 mere process of nature. It is true, that since the 
 beginning of the present century, they had risen 
 rapidly in commercial importance ; and the effect 
 of commerce is generally to enlighten and libe- 
 ralize the minds of those engaged in it. Some- 
 thing had also been effected towards the education 
 of the higher classes; the school of Scio had not 
 been without advantage, and that of Aivali made 
 promises of still greater and more general success. 
 Scio and Aivali ! two names whose misfortunes 
 I may hereafter undertake to detail, but which I 
 cannot mention for the first time without some 
 faint, but most sincere expression of sorrow and 
 commiseration. 
 
 It is well known that several young Greeks pur- 
 sued the study of medicine in the universities of 
 Italy, and that some others, though fewer in 
 number, received their education n Germany, 
 France, and even England ; but a still larger pro- 
 portion seem to have sought instruction in the 
 southern provinces of Russia, whither perhaps 
 they were first invited by commercial speculations. 
 But after all, it was to the higher classes that 
 education was confined, almost exclusively ; and I 
 
 bS 
 
IV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 much doubt whether any important advaiv.es haidl 
 yet been made towards the instruction of tHiee 
 people. And how, in fact, could it possiby bawee 
 been otherwise? Can a nation be educated iini 
 twenty years ? a nation crushed and lacerited toyy 
 long oppression, and still bending and <roanimgr 
 under its burden ? Yet another century, aid lh;att 
 people, the most naturally enlightened unier hea- 
 ven, would have snatched such glimpses o:' know- 
 ledge through the obscurity of despotism, ai wou.ldl 
 have rendered their tardier efforts at once unani- 
 mous and irresistible ; from the streets of tie Faiuall 
 to the valleys of Cyprus, one triumphant icclamia-- 
 tion would have attended the march of inlepenid-- 
 ence. That was the moment intended bj natuirce 
 for the Greek Revolution; then, indeed woulul 
 its birth have taken place without convulsion ; iitss 
 growth would have been erect and regukr, arrud 
 its hands unstained by crimes. 
 
 But since it has pleased Providence, tiat thuis 
 violently and untimely produced, it shoild hav.e 
 arrived at a certain degree of prosperity, a.nid 
 attained, as it would seem, a permanent existettfcee, 
 not nopeless of increase and amelioration) iit 
 
INTRODUCTION. V 
 
 becomes us to rejoice at the circumstances which 
 hawc forced upon our age so unexpected and so 
 magnificent an event ; and, while we more ardently 
 adimire whatever it contains truly admirable, to 
 attribute to its prematurity the defects which 
 distort and disfigure it. 
 
 'Three principal causes are mentioned as having 
 contributed to precipitate the birth of the Revo- 
 lution; — the rebellion of Ali Pasha, and the ac- 
 tiviity of his emissaries, — the influence and ex- 
 ertions of Russian agents, and the connexion of 
 certain leaders of the insurrection with the Car- 
 boinari. Let us examine these causes, as far as 
 ouir present information will admit, with candour 
 and impartiality. 
 
 J have been frequently assured by Greeks, who 
 are; not, however, it must be confessed, the most 
 accurate rclaters of their own affairs, that the 
 moment of insurrection was fixed by an accident, 
 which discovered to the Turkish Government the 
 exiistence of a very extensive conspiracy : this is 
 credible and natural. Perhaps few important dc- 
 eigjns, however prepared and premeditated, were 
 ever carried into execution precisely in the manner 
 
vl 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and at the time intended. The minute details, 
 the crisis, the impulse, the instant, are generally 
 decided by what is called accident. 
 
 Thus, then, was that event doubly premature : 
 first, in the formation of a conspiracy to awake 
 into liberty a people not yet prepared to endure 
 its brightness; and, secondly, in the occurrence 
 which forced that conspiracy into action some 
 months, perhaps, before it had completed the 
 arrangements* necessary for its success. 
 
 The existence of such a conspiracy, which no 
 one now affects to deny, is sufficiently proved by 
 the single fact that the principal merchants of 
 the Islands had, as early as the October pre- 
 ceding, recalled the greater part of their vessels, 
 which were detained in port, and in condition for 
 service the moment it should be required of 
 them. 
 
 That parts, too, of the Morea, were strongly 
 agitated and convulsed previous to the appearance 
 
 * These are said to have had in view the contemporaneous 
 seizure of all the Turkish fortresses in the Morea ; nor is the 
 existence of a grand plot at Constantinople, for the burning 
 of the city and the murder of the Sultan, at all generally 
 doubted. 
 
INTRODUCTION. vii 
 
 of Ypsilanti in Moldavia, is attested by letters 
 written at the moment and from the spot, which 
 I have seen and copied. 
 
 It is certain, that the rebellion of Ali Pasha 
 determined more than any known event the period 
 of insurrection; as if that monstrous spawn of 
 despotism had been reserved to make, before he 
 perished, one involuntary atonement to liberty for 
 the outrages which he had employed his long life 
 in inflicting upon her. Let us examine the facts 
 for one instant : in the summer of ] 820, Ali de- 
 clared his independence, and in September, the 
 Siege of Yanina commenced ; in October, the 
 landers called in their merchant-ships ; in No- 
 vember, the Suliotes returned to their country 
 from the Ionian Islands, and raised the standard 
 of rebellion, in alliance with their former perse- 
 cutor, against the Sublime Porte; in February, 
 1821, Hourshid Pasha arrived before Yanina, 
 from the Morea, leaving that country almost des- 
 titute of Turkish soldiers. Shortly after his ar- 
 rival, various Greeks, who were in the service of 
 Ali Pasha, left Yanina, and returned to their 
 
vm 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 homes, where they hoped very speedily to be 
 more actively employed; and, in the first days 
 of the April following, the insurrection did, in 
 fact, break out at Patras. 
 
 Let us no longer, then, believe those who would 
 persuade us, that the Revolution originated in a 
 mere tumultuary, unpremeditated movement, ex- 
 cited by the news of the chivalrous enterprise of 
 Ypsilanti. 
 
 Let us now proceed to the formidable question 
 of Russian agency; and I must here fairly express 
 my belief, that had not a very strong expectation 
 universally prevailed among the Greeks that their 
 attempt, when once hazarded, would receive the 
 protection of Russia, not one patriot would have 
 been found so daring as to have recommended it. 
 
 The question then is, whether this expectation 
 was founded solely on the ancient policy of the 
 Russian cabinet, or also on the recent conduct of 
 her agents in the Levant. 
 
 I have reason to believe that letters, bearing the 
 signature of Russian officers, addressed to insur- 
 gents, and strongly encouraging insurrection, were 
 
INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 iinterceptcd by the Turkish Government, and by 
 iit * communicated to the mediating powers. We 
 nnust suspend, then, our final judgment, till such 
 time as it shall be deemed proper to publish these 
 letters, that we may learn the importance of the 
 ; agents thus implicated, their number, the exact 
 1 tenour of their language, and above all, the mo- 
 ment of their agency ; for it may at last appear 
 that the letters were written after the breaking 
 out of the insurrection, and in that case we shall 
 have less difficulty in tracing them to their real 
 source. 
 
 Any attempt to revolutionize Greece must have 
 been made by the Russian ministry, either with 
 the knowledge of the emperor, or without it. 
 
 The former supposition is absolutely incredible. 
 Among the many virtues which the Emperor Alex- 
 ander is said to have displayed under the most 
 difficult circumstances, every one must remark 
 that of consistency. The insurrection which he 
 thought proper to condemn in its origin, he has 
 never in its progress for an instant supported ; its 
 principle appears to him as detestable now as 
 * This took place at a Conference in August, 1822. 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 heretofore, and the opinions which he proclaimed 
 at Laybach were re-echoed from the halls of 
 Verona. 
 
 But opinions are little ; we must look to the 
 actions of monarchs ; and from this examination 
 it appears that, during the course of the most 
 difficult negotiation ever conducted, many pre- 
 texts, and some reasons, for war were afforded him 
 by the blind pertinacity, may I not say pugna- 
 city, of the Turkish Government ; that public 
 opinion, such as can be expressed in Russia, in- 
 vited him to take advantage of them ; that a part 
 at least of his cabinet was active and incessant in 
 its endeavours to seduce him into the same feel- 
 ings ; that religion and ambition were eloquent in 
 the same cause ; and even honour appeared some- 
 times engaged to provoke him to hostility. 
 
 The emperor was inflexible — honour, or am- 
 bition, or religion, the intrigues of his ministers, 
 or the voice of his people, the very insolence of 
 his adversary, could not compel him to the sup- 
 port of a cause whose principle he continued to 
 disapprove. 
 
 The sincerity of his disapprobation being thus 
 
INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 clearly attested, it is quite* unnatural to suppose 
 that the emperor himself was privy to any secret 
 agency of which the object was to promote revo- 
 lution. 
 
 The cabinet, then, or a part of the cabinet, must 
 have acted without the knowledge of the emperor ; 
 and our suspicions are immediately directed to the 
 Greek who occupied the first place there. 
 
 Count Capo d'lstrias loves his country ; and, 
 in discharging his duties to the land which has 
 adopted him, he has never forgotten the interests 
 of that dearer land to which he has the earlier 
 and more lasting obligation of birth. But he loves 
 his country like a statesman who has studied its 
 wants and its difficulties ; not like an enthusiast, 
 who has looked only at its miseries : he loves it 
 too well and too rationally not to have received 
 with deep sorrow the first information of an attempt 
 pronounced hopeless by its very best friends, and 
 most hopeless by those who were best acquainted 
 
 * Can we believe that the Emperor secretly excited an 
 insurrection which he was predetermined never to protect 
 openly, and which had in its origin such little hope of suc- 
 cess without his protection ? I do not think him so weak or so 
 inhuman. 
 
Xll 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 with the opinions of the Emperoi of 3 Russia. On 
 this occasion, Capo dlstrias is lelieeved to have 
 expressed himself nearly as folLws: : — " I know 
 that posterity will consider me as he a author of this 
 insurrection ; but I protest ths it t is contrary 
 to all my best wishes: it is ill-tined a and untimely, 
 and destructive of all the hopes I 1 have so long 
 indulged of the gradual rcgcicraation of my 
 country ." 
 
 The best comment on thie ddeclaration is 
 furnished by a singularly-interetinpg document? 
 which I shall presently publisl ; i in the mean 
 time, suffice it here to expres: mTiy strong as- 
 surance of the sincerity with wtch those words 
 were uttered ; and my present conuviction, that 
 anxious as he had ever been for he i improvement 
 and ultimate emancipation of Greece, and indus- 
 triously as he may since have ererteed himself to 
 save her, by the hand of llussia froom the abyss 
 into which he imagined she wa faalling, Count 
 Capo dTstrias Avas not intentiondy instrumental 
 in exciting the present insurrection 
 
 If, then, neither the Emperor or ] his Ministers 
 were favourable to such designs, tiwhaat source are 
 
INTRODUCTION. XlU 
 
 we to refer tkhat secret agency which is proved, it 
 seems, to hawe eusted ? I am at a loss to answer 
 that question 1 ; mt if we should ever be more 
 exactly informned a* to the nature and period of 
 that agency, i it till appear, I think, either not to 
 have been exeertei previous to the insurrection, or 
 not to have i inv<lved persons of much considera- 
 tion ; or perhnap^ to have been only the spontane- 
 ous efFervescemicc of ill-informed * patriots, guided, 
 in their unenhligltened speculations by the ancient 
 policy of the . Rusian Cabinet-j*. 
 
 I have leearn, without surprise, though not 
 without sorrcow, that a correspondence of some 
 extent subsisted between the Greek patriots and 
 the Carbonarri ; and that proofs of it were pre- 
 sented at thee Ongress of Verona. It was natu- 
 ral that thosee \uo could ask nothing of the Go- 
 vernments off Eirope should seek aid even from 
 
 * Many Russisian gents in the Levant were native Greeks. 
 
 t I may add, i in ccfirmation of this opinion, that I have been 
 unable to procuure in Greece any distinct or consistent evi- 
 dence of the opwrafm of such agency either in producing or 
 supporting: t' 1 ^ - Revlulion. I am inclined to think that the 
 Apostles, or Emhissaies of the Hetaria, as generally coming from 
 Russia, have bee en smetimes mistaken for Agents of the Russian 
 Government. AAny '.ussian so employed was, I feel convinced, 
 the tool of Ypsililant, not of Capo d'Islrias. 
 
XIV 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the enemies of those governments. In their diffi- 
 cult ascent to independence, it mattered not, they 
 thought, how decayed the branch, or how shat- 
 tered the fragment which supported them. 
 
 But not perceiving in what utter imbecility they 
 were confiding a part of their hopes, neither could 
 they foresee the misrepresentation to which that 
 connexion would probably give rise ; they could 
 not foresee that their cause, in principle entirely 
 distinguished from the other, would be declared 
 contaminated by the contact ; and that its enemies 
 would derive from that circumstance plausible rea- 
 sons for the continuance of their persecution. Two 
 attempts, made in two adjoining countries, having 
 both for their object to alter something established, 
 and both pleading alike the protection of liberty, 
 were simultaneous. This was sufficient to esta- 
 blish a resemblance ; artful men pronounced it to 
 be identity ; unthinking men re-echoed the decla- 
 ration, and discharged upon both causes, indiscri- 
 minately, that angry and contemptuous censure, 
 which certainly was not merited by the cause of 
 Greece. 
 By this brief inquiry into the origin of the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XV 
 
 Revolution, we have ascertained, I think, that 
 notwithstanding much oppression, the Greeks had 
 made great commercial advances, and that the 
 education and information of the higher classes 
 raised them in general to some moral superiority 
 over the nation which ruled them; though the 
 body of the people had not partaken equally of 
 those advantages. All were alike thirsting for in- 
 dependence—the rebellion of Ali Pasha broke out, 
 and employed the attention of the Turkish armies, 
 while the forces of that Government, which they 
 ever dreaded next to the Turkish, were called away 
 to compose the civil dissensions of the Italians ; the 
 moment then seemed favourable for an effort, to 
 which Russia, they felt assured, would not deny 
 her usual protection. 
 
 These circumstances would be considered suffi- 
 cient to account for an insurrection, whose first ex- 
 ertions had so little appearance of organization. 
 There was, however, another and more powerful 
 machine, which had for some time been in motion 
 for the same purpose — I mean the Hetaria ; and as 
 I am fortunately enabled to give some authentic 
 
XVI 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and rather angular information respecting its con- 
 stitution, I will make it the subject of the next 
 Section . 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 It is unjust to include all secret societies in a single 
 sentence of condemnation — they are distinctly of 
 two kinds ; that formed for the nnutual assistance 
 and preservition of its members, or with any other 
 object purdy defensive; and that which has in 
 view any aggression on any person, or thing, or 
 system of tlings actually existing; whose object, in 
 short, contans any thing offensive. The former 
 may save a falling country, or perpetuate a perse- 
 cuted religion, and from its very nature can rarely 
 be producti/e of any serious or permanent evil — 
 even the later may sometimes be directed by vir- 
 tuous and toble purposes; but as its designs may 
 also be, and usually are, violent and destructive, 
 we may not designate even its more innocent form 
 by any milter name than conspiracy. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XV11 
 
 Such then was the Hetaria— a secret society, 
 formed for the removal of much exiting misery — 
 a conspiracy aigainst lust and avarict against igno- 
 rance and fanaticism, and domestic »ppression and 
 foreign despotism ! Let conspiracie, like all other 
 human actions, be impartially jud^d at the tri- 
 bunal of history, and some few prhaps will be 
 found to meriit exception from the /erdict of ge- 
 neral condemnation which must eer be passed 
 upon their principle. 
 
 Of all possible conspiracies, the lest guilty was 
 that which we are now proceeding to examine, both 
 in consideration! of its object, and, aswill presently 
 appear, of its internal constitution. And yet, I 
 confess, that I feel some delicacy in xposing what 
 was intended, probably, for eternal secrecy ; nor 
 if any portion of that society still continued to 
 exist, should amy thing have inducel me to com- 
 municate the little which I hav< accidentally 
 discovered of its mysteries. — But tie Hetaria is 
 now no more ; its purposes are fulilled, and the 
 friends of Grecian independence ar- condemned 
 ito darkness no longer. Patriotism is no longer 
 
XV111 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 a midnight * virtue, to be silently adored with 
 vows and teas — the sun at length has risen upon 
 its worshippes, and they may display their zeal as 
 publicly as thjy will, in council or in action. The 
 first cannon vhich was heard in Moldavia was the 
 signal for th( extinction of the Hetaria. 
 
 I cannot t^ace the origin of this society to an 
 earlier period than the year 1814: in its birth con- 
 temporary wth the Philo-music Society, in its 
 nature and cesigns it was entirely distinguished : 
 the one was publicly established for purposes 
 purely literacy, and presently received the pa- 
 tronage of ninisters and even emperors. The 
 ends of the >ther were exclusively political ; and 
 it was only piotected in its commencement and its 
 progress by tie strictest secrecy. 
 
 Its membtrs were divided into three grada- 
 tions -f- or chsses. First, the Blumides, or chiefs ; 
 secondly, the Systemeni, or coadjutors; thirdly, 
 the Hiereis, or priests. The whole united was 
 called the Httaria Philike, or Friendly Society or 
 
 * See a few piges later. 
 
 t Called Bdtf*,. The word BXa^/Si; is, I am told, Albanian. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XIX 
 
 Fellowship. The three classes hac distinct signs 
 and private nneans o£ communicatim by the posi- 
 tion of the hand or fingers, as in free-masonry ; 
 and each hatd a separate cipher, .tjgugh it would 
 appear that they possessed also a common method 
 intelligible to all. 
 
 The qualifiications necessary for aimission were, 
 that the candidate be " a true HelLne # , a steady 
 and zealous Lover of his country, aid a good and 
 virtuous man ; that he be a member of no other 
 secret society ; and that his desir< to be f cate- 
 chised into the Hetaria arise not torn curiosity, 
 or any other motive than pure pariotism;" and 
 it is required of him, amongst other things, " that 
 he consider J all other bonds and cuties which he 
 has in the world as next to nothng, when con- 
 fronted with the bond of the Hetarii." 
 
 The facility afforded for the adnission of new 
 members was very great; as an} one member, 
 
 * In one place the words are merely " Tenuis, £i£xia>s k^plf 
 
 \(u.o%i Iris Halgi~$or, xcti xaXo; a.ti^u'Xoi-' 1 '' In inother, " aXnfovo; 
 'KXXnv . . . ivdoijcai xcci xaXos avl)gW'Z^a$• ,, 
 
 t "Cf]i iTiDvftiT vox xaJo^)i^ <l; rriv Eraipiav 
 
 X " '0"]i 0X01 oil axXXoi ho-p.01 xod a.'To^iaxnis h »X U l 't T,y *^fi*v 
 
 c2 
 
XX 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 with the privity of a second, had the power of 
 admitting every person whom he believed to pos- 
 sess the requisite qualifications. 
 
 Respecting the form of admission, my informa- 
 tion is not perfectly distinct; I understand it to 
 have been as follows:— The candidate was first 
 conducted by the " priest,"" who was about to 
 admit him, into the presence of another member, 
 before whom he expressed his wish to enter the 
 society, and reid the oath which he would be 
 required to take for that purpose. One or two 
 days were then allowed him to meditate on the 
 substance of that oath, and if he still retained his 
 previous desire, a * secure place was selected, to 
 which he retired with the priest at night and in 
 silence. A table was prepared, on which was 
 placed a wax taper and an image. After some 
 unimportant formalities, the novice was directed 
 to kneel on his right knee, close to the table, and 
 to make three times the sign of the cross ; after 
 this, he was allowed to touch the image, and 
 to place upon it his right hand, open. While 
 
 * " Ms]a fiixv ti )vo l)f*.i(>u$ ?r,v wxja fiwruvja; zf/tyultuvja; '.'is 
 
 I 
 
INTRODUCTION. Xxi 
 
 he was in this position, the taper was placed 
 in his left hand, and he pronounced these words : 
 " This taper is the only witness which my afflicted 
 country accepts, when her children swear the oath 
 of their emancipation" — words so simply and 
 solemnly impressive, that he must, indeed, have 
 been an indifferent patriot who could pronounce 
 them without tears. He then repeated the sign of 
 the Cross, once only, and proceeded to receive 
 the principal* oath. When this had been duly 
 administered, the Priest placed his right hand on 
 the left shoulder of the novice, and replacing with 
 his left hand the image which the latter had raised 
 from the table during the fervour of initiation, 
 uttered, with a distinct voice, the following words : 
 " -f- Before the face of the invisible and omni- 
 present true God, who in his essence is just, the 
 avenger of transgression, the chastiser of evil, by 
 the laws of the Hetaria Philike, and by the autho- 
 rity with which its powerful priests has intrusted 
 
 * Called 'O ftiyxs"OgKo;. 
 
 f " Ewuitioy rou 'Aoparou net) <xa.iru.fcou <xa^oiroi aXtifovou Qtou, rou 
 xa,S aurov Sixcclov rou ixSiKouvro; rhv TaodSxcriv x-a) vraiiivovro; rn* 
 xax-iav, Kara, rou; xdvovas rr,s (piXix-vs Eraiglas, not) (fX T»» ouvuftiv rn* 
 07Tiia> 'ihoitM o\ fiiiyaXoi 'hjs;," 4to. #"c. Sfc. 
 
XX11 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 me, I receive you, as I was myself received, into 
 the bosom of the Hetaria. 11 
 
 To which the other replied, " I swear, as a mart 
 of honour, as a man anxious for the happiness of 
 my fellow-countrymen, * on which depends even 
 my own daily existence, by all that I hold sacred 
 and dear in the world, that I will unalterably 
 observe the promises which I have sworn to the 
 Hetaria, and that I will be faithful to the end of 
 my life to the whole body generally, and to its 
 members individually, in whatever circumstance of 
 human condition I may find myself; and that I 
 will be strictly directed by the fundamental -f* prin- 
 ciples on which the society reposes. 1 "' 
 
 The initiated was then admitted to all the pri- 
 vileges and secrets of the ** Priesthood," whence 
 he might be promoted, in process of time, to the 
 higher classes of the society ; but in what time, or 
 by what means or merits, I am not informed. 
 Punishments, too, were established for offending 
 members; consisting probably of pecuniary for- 
 
 + Toil SiftiXitu&tls 'Ag%us ; which are described to be l (ttyxi 
 ■Bruryurnrpos, n A$h, and a great variety of other virtues. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XX111 
 
 feits, varying according to the extent of the of- 
 fence: it is difficult to conceive the execution of 
 any other species of punishment amongst the mem- 
 bers of a society thus composed. The new member 
 was called Adelphopceetos, or Adopted Brother. 
 
 The candidate was also subjected to two distinct 
 sets of interrogations, and was obliged to confirm 
 his answers to them by oath. Some of the ques- 
 tions are very singular, and the motive which dic- 
 tated others is not quite obvious. I am enabled to 
 give the greater number of them literally. 
 
 The longer and more important of these two 
 " Catechisms," which was called " the First Oath, 11 
 contained ten questions : 
 
 1 . How do you live, and what means have you 
 of procuring your livelihood ? 
 
 2*. What relatives have you? in what pro- 
 fession are you, and in what circumstances? 
 
 3. Had you ever any differences with your kins- 
 men, or friends, or any one else ? 
 
 4. (Something unimportant, founded on qu. 3.) 
 
 5. Are you married, or have you any intention 
 of marrying? 
 
 ■X- T/ vuyytnis 'i%as ', r't a,'Xiyy%X(^a. kxi ftoia,; x»r»rra.vn;. 
 
XXIV 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 6 *. Are you in love ; or had you ever an at- 
 tachment, which has passed away with time ? 
 
 7. Has any great misfortune or change of cir- 
 cumstance overtaken you ? 
 
 8. Are you contented Avith your situation in life, 
 or should you prefer some other to it ? 
 
 9. Have you any faithful friend, and who is he ? 
 
 10. How do you intend to live for the future ? 
 
 The second catechism was called the " Con- 
 fession, - " (e^o/xoXoyrxrij), and contains only six ques- 
 tions : 
 
 1. Are you persecuted^, either yourself or any 
 among your relatives or friends, by the govern- 
 ment of our country, or by any one else ; and on 
 what account ? 
 
 2. Have you any friends or relatives in prison, 
 and why? 
 
 3. Have any among your relatives or friends 
 been put to death by the Government, and why ? 
 
 4. I Has any important event befallen you in 
 the course of your life ? 
 
 * "^X"' "ft-" rc '-> - ^/C l; *'«*'-> h L-/r'i^u.i(. nc) u.xu To» xctioov, 
 
 t Literally, run down. Kitrai tcararpixftUos lev, h xunvx; fvyytvki 
 
 % lov iKoXovQwi* p'tya rt ih rh> £*w <rov- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXV 
 
 5. * Are you acquainted with any great political 
 mystery, or any discovery worthy of mention, or 
 any other important secret ? Whence did you learn 
 it ? Do any others know it ? and who are they ? 
 Have you the necessary proofs of it, and what 
 is it? 
 
 6. -f* Have you any distinguishing excellence, 
 secret or notorious? or any extraordinary accom- 
 plishment ? 
 
 Such were the questions which the new brother 
 was obliged to answer before his adoption. I am 
 not aware whether his admission or rejection de- 
 pended in any way upon the nature of his answers, 
 but I am inclined to think not. It is difficult to 
 suppose that a man was disqualified for the Hetaria 
 either because he loved, or because, having once 
 loved, he had been subjected by human weakness 
 to the oblivious omnipotence of time. Nor can I 
 believe that the members of that society were re- 
 stricted to the poor or the wealthy, to the happy or 
 the unfortunate; to those who had endured, or to 
 
 * E|sy£E/s xanva. fiiya. ftv/Jixw (secret) 'TiXfjixov ri xa/upiav a.\m- 
 Xiytflov iQivQ'rtrtv n aXXo <ri} ftiya. utroxoutpov, S(c. Sfc. 
 
 + "E^£/j xaviva f/Xya. T^o\i^rifjt.a. xpv<fov ri<p&vli>6uf&ivoV ) ri xaftftiav tTrtbi- 
 \i'<!]n\a. fyxvpixw. 
 
XXVI 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 those who had escaped oppression; to those who 
 possessed friends, or to those who were friendless. 
 It was probably sufficient that the candidate, by 
 a faithful answer to interrogations, some of which 
 are sufficiently inquisitorial, put the society in pos- 
 session of the history of some of the most private 
 actions of his life, and gave thereby some sort of 
 pledge for his future conduct. 
 
 The object (SxoTror) of the Hetaria is expressed 
 in these words : — " The Hetaria consists of native 
 Greeks, patriots, and is named the Society of the 
 Friendly. Their object is the purification * of this 
 nation, and, with the aid of Heaven, their indepen- 
 dence.' 1 
 
 The " principal oath" which united them in 
 their object, and consecrated them to the accom- 
 plishment of it, is of considerable length, but so 
 full of interest, that I shall make no excuse for 
 presenting my readers with the whole of it, in ex- 
 pression or substance. 
 
 ' ' In the presence of the true God, spontaneously 
 
 * 1 cannot decipher the word in the original MS., but it ap- 
 pears to contain the letters ... in^tr .. Neither is the Romaic 
 orthography of my author at all generally correct. The very 
 title of his society he invariably writes A<7 $£«'«, Haeteria. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXV11 
 
 I swear, that I will be faithful to the Hetaria * in 
 all and through all ; I will never betray the slightest 
 portion of its acts -f- or words ; nor will I ever in 
 any manner give even my relatives or friends to 
 understand that I am acquainted with them. 
 
 " I swear, that henceforward I will not enter 
 into any other society, or into any J bond of obli- 
 gation ; but whatever bond of whatever I may pos- 
 sess in the world, when compared to the Hetaria, 
 I will hold as nothing. 
 
 " I swear that I will nourish in my heart irre- 
 concileable hatred against the tyrants of my 
 country, their followers, and their favourers ; and 
 I will exert every method for their injury, and, 
 when circumstanees permit, for their destruction. 1 ' 
 
 (Then follow two or three clauses, by which the 
 members are bound to acts of friendship and 
 mutual assistance, on all occasions ; and to a 
 readiness to admit such persons as possess the 
 proper qualifications in the manner in which they 
 were themselves admitted; and they severally 
 
 * Kara zfairot. xui $ia tfdvra. 
 
 •f Agreements, determinations, au^dsui. 
 
 X 08" BiXti ift£fj tls xxfiftixv «AA>jv trai^iai fUyti us nania, W/*ov 
 trro%/>iwr>irixov. 
 
XXV111 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 engage never to ask any (piXtKov by whom he was 
 introduced into the society, nor ever to declare 
 who introduced themselves.) 
 
 " I swear never to offer any injury to the 
 Hetaria, but I will consider it as a holy pledge, 
 extending to the whole of my wretched race, and 
 inviolable as the sealed letter *. 
 
 " I swear that I will ever so regulate my con- 
 duct that I may be a virtuous man; fl will 
 incline with piety towards my own form of wor- 
 ship, without disrespectfully regarding those of 
 foreigners ; I will ever present a good example ; 
 I will aid, counsel, and support the sick, the un- 
 fortunate, and the feeble ; I will reverence the 
 Government, the tribunals, and the ministers of 
 the country in which I may be residing. 
 
 " | Last of all, I swear by Thee, my sacred 
 
 * ligov xa.i hi%Vj>ov Wpayftu, a,vwt>v il; »Xov <ro TaXaivwptv 
 ifos; f&a.;, xaDw; ra KaftGeuiofttver- xa.) ttriW'ofiiva. atygaytiTfiiva. ypa.fi- 
 ftxra. 
 
 t BiXn iiftui ivXcuo/i; il; rhv 9-p^ffxaav ftw Xt»p)s va xaraf^ovu 
 ra; %ivccr SiXu iiiu -aavrort ro xaXov zfagahuyf&a.' SfC. 
 
 $ Conscious of the weakness of the translation, I refer with 
 pleasure to the original, as containing a beautiful specimen of 
 the powers of a language, on which the sentence of entire 
 corruption has been much too hastily pronounced. " Ts'x«,- 
 9uvtuv, opxifyfiou 11; ' Ea\ 3 u hpa. xa.) kHXiu zra.rp);, igxifyp.cu v; 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXIX 
 
 and suffering Country, — I swear by thy long- 
 endured tortures, — I swear by the bitter tears 
 which for so many centuries have been shed by 
 thy unhappy children, by my own tears which 
 I am pouring forth at this very moment, — I swear 
 by the future liberty of my countrymen, that I 
 consecrate myself wholly to thee; that hence- 
 forward thou shalt be the cause and object of my 
 thoughts, thy name the guide of my actions, and 
 thy happiness the recompense of my labours. 11 
 
 Here, then, let me conclude. I will violate by 
 n o paltry comment the sanctity of this exquisite 
 adjuration. Poetry has produced little to equal 
 it ; liberty, piety, and patriotism will never sur- 
 pass it. 
 
 On his knees, at midnight, with the image in 
 
 tou; ■sro\v%f>ov'iotj; (iatrdvous , ogxi^o/uen il; too zjixpu. okx^vu, to. otfoix 
 riffov; aluvas Z%v<ru\> <ra TciXcciTapa rixva. aou, ti; <ra liixd ftou 
 ixxjiuu, to. a-Toia. %sjvoj av-rttv r>jv aTiyprtv tit rh* fii^-Xouo-xv IXsw- 
 tiloiuv ruii hfjoayitZv fiou } art r\^ noutoij.au oXos l/f 'JE« ; oti u; to 
 l|?; 2« SsXs<; avui -h ulna, xai o ffxovro; Tut 'hiaXoyifffout uov, 
 to otofid aou odtryog Tut zf(>a.\-uv ftov, ku.) n Eyru^i'a Say 
 avTce.ft.oiiri Tut xortuv flow 
 
 The whole concludes with a very violent invocation of the 
 vengeance of God and man, if the Hetarist allows himself to 
 be " unmindful for a moment of the miseries of his country, 
 and the discharge of his own sacred dutv." 
 
XXX 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 his right hand, and the taper in his left, the young 
 Grecian " consecrated himself wholly to his coun- 
 trv," He swore, " by her future liberty,'' 1 to de- 
 vote his undivided existence, thought and action, 
 soul and body, to her redemption and emanci- 
 pation. Why need we search any farther for the 
 cause of the Greek Revolution ? 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 A body constituted, as I have described the He- 
 taria, could not fail to be numerous and increasing. 
 The principles on which it reposed ensured the 
 respectability of a great proportion of its members, 
 and the union of all was secured by their common 
 interest in the object which they had engaged 
 themselves to accomplish. It is true, that many 
 Greeks*, most distinguished for rank or opulence, 
 were never prevailed upon to enter into the 
 society ; influenced, no doubt, by the certainty 
 
 * I have been assured, that not more than one or two 
 Athenians, if even that number, were Hetarists ; and I know 
 that some of the principal Hydriotes, though frequently in- 
 vited, refused to give any countenance to the Society. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xxxi 
 
 that, in case of discovery, they should be the 
 first victims selected by the rapacious justice of 
 the Sublime Porte ; but no one will doubt that 
 they were well aware of its existence, and were 
 observing its secret operations with attention and 
 anxiety. 
 
 Its funds are believed to have been very con- 
 siderable ; they were derived principally from the 
 sum paid by every member on his admission, 
 which varied according to his wealth or enthu- 
 siasm. They were for the most part deposited 
 in the hands of Greek merchants at Odessa, and 
 are said to have been consumed by the calamitous 
 expedition of Alexander Ypsilanti. In fact, I am 
 disposed to believe, that the focus of the He- 
 taria was placed rather in the southern provinces 
 of Russia than in Greece itself, and that the 
 numerous Greeks there resident formed a consi- 
 derable, perhaps the greater, proportion of its 
 members. 
 
 The first operations of that society seem to 
 have been conducted with little prudence, since 
 it is certain that, in 1815, Ali Pasha obtained 
 possession of a copy of the " Catechism, 1 ' and 
 
xxxu 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 even sent it for the inspection of General Campbell, 
 who was at that time commander of the forces in 
 the Ionian Isles. But happily for the existence 
 of the Hetaria, and for the destiny, perhaps, of 
 Greece itself, the tyrant mistook the origin of 
 that document ; by a very natural error, lie was 
 led to attribute it to some private machinations 
 of the Philo-music Society, and remained ignorant 
 and unsuspicious of the existence of any other. 
 
 Preserved from a danger so threatening to its 
 infancy, the young society increased in power 
 and energy. With silent and invisible growth, 
 and nourished by the " bitter tears" of Greece, 
 the roots struck wide and deeply, and extended 
 themselves with a rapidity which proved the 
 vigour of the plant, but excited fears that the 
 fruit which it was intended to bear would prove 
 untimely and precocious. 
 
 These fears were not unfounded : it is well 
 known that, in the year 1819, Count Capo Fdstrias 
 made his celebrated visit to Corfu. Its only 
 ostensible consequence, indeed; was that attack 
 on the Ionian Government which has been proved 
 to be so little creditable to his sound sense, to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXX111 
 
 his political sagacity, or even to his sober and 
 rational patriotism. His intentions, however, and 
 his operations, were not confined to the Ionian 
 Islands ; they were also directed, perhaps with 
 more ardour, and certainly with better judgment, 
 to the neighbouring continent; and they were 
 watched with inexpressible solicitude by its eager 
 inhabitants. 
 
 The great patron of their honour and ame- 
 lioration, the minister and confidant of the Em- 
 peror, whom they were taught to call their 
 protector, and whom they wished to believe their 
 friend, had appeared in Greece. What more 
 was necessary to persuade that volatile and 
 enthusiastic people that the hour of their re- 
 demption was arrived ; and that their illustrious 
 fellow-countryman was a messenger sent by Rus- 
 sia to give the signal for insurrection. Some of 
 the more ardent members of the Hetaria encou- 
 raged that notion, and secretly fed the flame 
 which was but too ready to burst forth. 
 
 So sudden an explosion, however, coincided not 
 with the views of Capodistrias : he was too well 
 acquainted with the present policy, probably with 
 
XXXIV 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 the genuine sentiments, of his imperial master, to 
 believe that any Revolution could ever receive 
 encouragement from him ; that Greece, alone and 
 unassisted, should find the means of working out 
 her own independence, appeared beyond the pos- 
 sibility of hope ; that she should be obliged to 
 any other power for her liberation was obviously 
 contrary to the interest of Russia. It became 
 necessary then to calm the irritation thus unin- 
 tentionally excited, and the means chosen for that 
 purpose was the promulgation of a very singular 
 document*, which it is my good fortune to be 
 able to publish entire. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS SUR LES MOYENS D'AMELTORER 
 LE SORT DES GRECS. 
 
 Corfou, 6— 18 Avril, 1819. 
 Fils de Notre Sainte Mere Eglise, nous sommes 
 tous freres ; lies par des malheurs qui nous sont 
 communs, nous sommes tous portes a nous aider 
 mutuellement ; eclaires par Texperience de nos 
 
 * I leave it, for many reasons, in the language in which it 
 is believed to have been originally written. It was, of course, 
 translated into Greek, but I never saw a copy of the translation. 
 
IN'TRODUCTTOtf. 
 
 XXXV 
 
 erreurs, formes desormais a l'ecolc ties calamites, 
 qui en sont resultees et qui nous accablent, nous 
 sommes dej& parvenus a un certain degre de 
 maturite parce que nous sommes tous egale- 
 ment frappes d'une heureuse conviction, savoir, 
 que nous devons nous aider mutuellement, mats 
 en ne nous tcartant point des principes consacres 
 par la morale de cette sainte religion, a la quelle 
 seule nous devons de composer une nation, de 
 souffrir a ce titre, d'avoir le sens profond de 
 nos soufFrances, et d'eprouver le besoin de nous 
 en delivrer pour toujours. La marche que nous 
 suivons depuis quelques annees dans la vue d'at- 
 teindre a ce but, est, sans contredit, la veritable. 
 Elle a pour guide les principes de l'Evangile ; elle 
 est dans la nature des choses humaines. 
 
 Faire du bien a nos compatriotes pour ramour 
 seul du bien, et sans autre inter£t quelconque ; 
 ameliorer par la leur sort actuel et les preparer 
 ainsi aux grands avantages d^une civilisation mo- 
 rale et chretienne ; ne nous meler point de 
 creer cette civilisation sur les bases d'un systeme 
 arbitraire, ou des circonstances, mais abandonner 
 
 (12 
 
XXXVI 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ce grand oeuvre a la Providence, qui seule est 
 Tarbitre des nations — 
 
 Telles sont en general les directions qui suivent 
 les Grecs appelles par leur devouement au service 
 de notre patrie ; les uns en travaillant eux-memes 
 a la meilleure education de leurs enfans; les 
 autres en favorisant par des nobles sacrifices les 
 intentions litteraires parmi nous, et en sou tenant 
 de leurs moyens les moins fortunees parmi les 
 jeunes Grecs qui frequentent les Academies Eu- 
 ropeennes. 
 
 L'education litteraire tfest cependant pas la 
 seule dont nous avons besoin ; la patrie en reclame 
 un autre. (Test de la morale dont il est question. 
 
 L'education morale doit se proposer pour ob- 
 jet de mettre d'une part en evidence les liommes 
 dignes du respect et de la confiance de la nation, 
 et d'habituer de Tautre graduellement la nation a 
 respecter, a ecouter, a croire a. ces hommes. 
 
 Si les epoques ou tout promettoit a notre pa- 
 trie Tavenir le plus honorable et le plus heureux 
 sont passees en emportant avec elles nos meilleures 
 esperances, c'est que les hommes dont cette patrie, 
 
INTRODITCTION. 
 
 XXXV11 
 
 devait se composer, n'etaient pas encore faits 
 ni pour ecouter la voix auguste de la verite ni 
 pour etre ecoutes de la masse de nos con- 
 citoyens: peu de lumieres, nulle experience, 
 point d'usage du monde et moins encore de 
 moeurs, constituait toute notre patrimoine d'alors. 
 On existe mal dans cette pauvrete de moyens 
 lorsqu'on est au milieu d\in etat de choses 
 habituelles ; comment done pretendre d'en sortir, 
 ou d'en creer un qui soit meilleur ? 
 
 L'homme qui vient de secouer le joug, pent 
 porter rapidement son esprit a des conceptions 
 liberales, mais pour rendre ces idees pratiquees 
 il faut plus, il faut que le coeur de cet homme 
 soit doue d'unc bienveillance cclaiix'e, telle que 
 cette que nous est enseignee par TEvangile : hors 
 de la point du bien reel. 
 
 Ou les conceptions liberales restent dans le 
 monde des abstractions, et alors elles demeurent 
 sans effet ; ou bien elles deviennent lHnstrument de 
 1 'ambition, et de Tinteret personnel; alors elles per- 
 dent tous leurs attraits, au lieu de se faire cherir 
 elles se font detester par le peuple ; sa civilisation 
 no peut plus avancef ; elle recule. 
 
XXXV111 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Rendons-nous compte loyamment des evenemens 
 qui remplisscnt la moitie de notre siecle; descendons 
 uvec recucilloment dans le fond de nos consci- 
 ences; scrutons celles de nos compatriotes qui se 
 sont trouves a meme de nous rendre quelque ser- 
 vice, et qui out manques les belles et grandes 
 occasions de s'en acquitter, et nous serons pro- 
 fondement convaincus que, moins de l'ignorance 
 d'un part et ce defaut de caractere morale de 
 Tautre, les homines les plus distingues parmi nos 
 peres favorises par les circonstances de leurs 
 k)it]).s, nous auraient legues des destinees moins 
 problcmatiques, et Tamelioration progressive de 
 notre sort. 
 
 Cette amelioration neanmoins commence; son 
 element principal consiste dans le credit qu\)nt 
 eu parmi nous, depuis quelques annees, les verites 
 que nous venons de retracer. II s'agit maintenant 
 de cultiver avec suite et sagesse cette heureuse 
 tendance de nos compatriotes, et de la porter gra- 
 duellement a des resultats satisfaisans. 
 
 Un des moyens qui sc pr^sente pour ainsi dire 
 spontanement a Tesprit, cVst celui d'associer a 
 cette grande ceuvre les efforts des plus eclaires 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXXIX 
 
 et des mieux pensants parmi les Grecs. Cetto 
 association semble exister, elle est dans la lettre, 
 comme dans l'esprit de la fraternite Chretienne ; 
 quclque soit le caractere profane dont on peut 
 vouloir la revetir, il est a desirer que cette asso- 
 ciation nc s'ecarte point du but que nous avons 
 signale plus haut, et sur lequel il importe en- 
 core de fixer Fattention. Nous le repetons, e'est 
 de Teducation morale et litteraire de la Grece que 
 les Grecs doivent s'occuper uniquement et exclu- 
 sivement ; tout autre objet est vain, tout autre 
 travail est dangereux. 
 
 Le point de depart, comme le centre de Tedu- 
 cation morale, ne peut etre que restitution du 
 clerge; le notre n'est point institue, faute de 
 moyens; en les lui procurant on remplira une 
 belle tache. Nous reduisons ces moyens aux 
 suivans : 
 
 1. A procurer aux dioceses principales, les 
 Eveques et Metropolitains les plus instruits et les 
 plus exemplaires par la purete de leurs moeurs. 
 
 2. A engager ces prelats indirect cment a fa- 
 voriser dans le ecrele de leur jurisdiction les 
 progres des e'coles publiques ; a titre d'aumoue 
 
xl 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 on pourrait leur en fournir les moyens pecu- 
 niaires. 
 
 3. A leur demontrer Pimportancc majeure du 
 service qu'ils pouvaient rendre a la patrie, en ad- 
 ministrant dans leurs jurisdictions respectives la 
 justice avec une severite scrupuleuse et un desin- 
 teressement a toute epreuve. 
 
 I/autorite immense de TEglise renforcee de» 
 cette manicre, deviendra la sauvegarde de la na- 
 tion. Elle sera, seule elle peut-etre, le berceau de 
 son avenir. Si Ton voulait developer cette idee 
 il serait facile de demontrer jusqua Tevidence, 
 que c'est par la consideration dont on environne le 
 Clerge, et par Finfluence salutaire qu^l exerce dans 
 les rapports interieurs de chaque diocese, que Ton 
 fondera sur les bases actuelles la regeneration de la 
 nation, et qu'on aura, pour ansi dire, en main le fil 
 auquel se ratachc ce grand evenement. 
 
 II est inutile d'observer ici, que dans Tetat 
 actuel des choses, c'est par ce moyen seul qu'on 
 peut favoriser d'un part Tclevation des hommes 
 qui doivent ctre ecoutees, ct entretenir de Tautre 
 le respect et la confiance du peuple envcrs ces 
 derniers. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xli 
 
 Quelques soient les chances des evenemens, soit 
 que la situation actuelle de notre patrie ait a se 
 maintenir inalterable pour des longues annees, soit 
 que la Grece ait a subir une crise, il est toujours 
 d'un grand interet. 
 
 l e . Que la Nation soit entierement devoue a 
 son Eglise et que par la, le peuple de chaque 
 contree soit porte naturellement a reconnaitre et a 
 cherir les chefs, qui se trouvent avoir le plus 
 travaille a son bonheur. 
 
 2 e . Que les Pasteurs soient, autant que faire 
 se pourra, les organes de ce grand resultat. 
 
 3°. Que T instruction publique soit identifiee 
 a celle du Clerge, que Tune ne puisse jamais se 
 detacher de Tautre, moins encore etre en diver- 
 gence. 
 
 En favorisant rinstruction de lajeunesse, et en 
 attirant soigneusemcnt dans le sein de leurs fa- 
 milies les homines formes a Tecole des Universite's 
 et du monde, il faut avoir grand soin de ne point 
 leur permettre de se placer en opposition de 
 TEglise. 
 
 C'est la une grande service, que les Grecs 
 jouissants de quelque credit peuvent et doivent 
 
xlii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 rendre a leur patrie. Ik y parviendront en mo- 
 derant par leur ascendant les pretensions des ser- 
 vants et en neutralisant les prejuges dont Pigno- 
 rance aime a s'environner. 
 
 Nous avons dit qu'il est d'une importance 
 majeure de porter aux grandes dioceses des prelats 
 eclaires ct reveres par la purete de leurs moeurs. 
 
 La seconde partie de feducation morale doit 
 avoir pour objet la formation des homines aux 
 affaires de leurs pays. La meilleure ecole pom- 
 nous, est celle que nous off rent les peuples Chretiens 
 de notre religion, et les peuples libres. (Test en 
 Russie ou nous pouvons voir comment e'est de 
 TEglise que derive la prosperite nationale et le 
 progres de la civilisation. 
 
 C'est en Suisse, en Angleterre, et en Ame- 
 rique, ou nous pouvons apprendre par les attraits 
 de fexemple la science et Part de la liberie. 
 
 La liberte est unc science parceqirdle se 
 fonde sur des principes ; elle est tin art ; parceque 
 la doctrine la plus elevee ne vaut pas une bonne 
 action et parcequ'en affaire tout est action. TJ 
 faut done se trouver au milieu des hommes libres 
 pour apprendre a etre libre et par le principe et 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xliii 
 
 dans le fait. II faut vivre quelque temps au milieu 
 (Tune nation eminement chretienne et religieuse et 
 par la prosperante, pour apprendre a etre reli- 
 gieux par sentiment autant que par discipline. 
 
 Les hommes influens de notre patrie devraient 
 done ne point perdre vue de ces observations, et en 
 les adoptant faire en sorte que quelques jeunes 
 gens parmi les notres recoivent une bonne educa- 
 tion en Russie, en Suisse, en Angleterre, et en 
 Amerique. 
 
 Le commerce leur offre une occasion tres pro- 
 pice: parmi ces jeunes gens on pourrait choisir 
 ceux qui donnent les plus grandes esperances par 
 leurs talens autant que par leurs mceurs, et les 
 faire voyager quelque temps dans les pays que 
 nous venons de mentionner. Un fois formes a ces 
 grandes ecoles il faudrait les faire revenir chez eux, 
 et leur donner de Fouvrage, soit en leur conferant 
 des soins publics, soit en leur temoignant de la con- 
 fiance. 
 
 La plus grande par tie des Grecs qui se sont 
 distingues dans l'etranger en regagnant leurs foyers 
 se trouvent deplaces et hors d'eeuvre, frappes 
 d'ennui et de deconsideration, ils s'impatientent, 
 
xliv 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ils cherchent ailleurs Texistence qu'ils nc peuvent 
 pas trouver dans leur pays ; ils le quittent, ils sont 
 perdus pour la patrie. Le grand point est de les 
 conserver et de les faire travailler pour elle. Cette 
 question en theorie semble d'une immense cliffi- 
 culte ; elle est facile du moment qu'on la considere 
 pratiquement ; Thomme n'existc que d\in interet ; 
 le grand art consiste a lui en faire retrouver un, et 
 associcr cet interet a V interet de tous. 
 
 Or, il n'y a pas de village que n'offre unc 
 masse d'interets sourtout pour des hommes qui 
 sont doues d'une grande sensibilite et de beaucoup 
 d'imagination, et lorsque Thistoire nationale peut 
 emouvoir Tune et nourrir Fautre. 
 
 En s'occupant d\ine partie du service de notrc 
 patrie, les hommes a bonne volonte peuvent lui 
 etre d'une grande utilite, soit en favorisant l 1 educa- 
 tion, pour ainsi dire, politique des jeunes gens a 
 grandes esperanees, soit en utilisant ceux qui les 
 auront realisees par leurs soucis durant leurs voyages 
 dans letranger. 
 
 Ces deux branches du service national deman- 
 dent un point de contact, un centre commun d'ou 
 elles partent. Ce sont lea homines eelaires k bonne 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xlv 
 
 volonte, et sincerement chretiens parmi nous, qui 
 peuvent devenir le centre. En donnant constam- 
 ment a tous nos efforts cette direction droite et 
 morale nous ne manquons a aucun des devoirs, que 
 chacun de nous a contractus envers Tordre qui existe 
 dans le pays, ou se trouvent ses foyers, et le tom- 
 beau de ses peres; et nous remplissons en merae 
 temps loyamment et honorablement tous les devoirs 
 que nous impose notre sainte religion. Elle nous 
 commande ramour de nos semblables, a plus forte 
 raison celui de nos compatriotes. 
 
 Le jour ou nous sortirons de cette ligne, 
 lorsque nous embrasserons une doctrine differente, 
 nos sacrifices ajouteront aux malheurs de notre 
 patrie. 
 
 II ne s'agira plus de bien public, c'est a Tam- 
 bition et a la vanite de quelques individus, qu'on 
 fera encore servir les interets de notre terre natale. 
 
 Nous esperons d'etre a Tabri de ce grand 
 danger ; les suites de nos erreurs pesent encore sur 
 nos tetes. 
 
 This extraordinary paper was probably intended 
 by its author (and many doubts cannot, I think, 
 
xlvi 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 exist respecting that author) as a land-mark to 
 direct the blind and irregular movements of the 
 Hetarists. He considered them as having mis- 
 taken the true road which alone could conduct to 
 the emancipation of Greece, and he wished to lead 
 them back from the short cut which they were 
 taking to liberty, into a path which, though cir- 
 cuitous, was yet plain and secure. Such at least 
 was his professed, and such I believe to have been 
 his real, motive. 
 
 . In the mean time, the existence of such a docu- 
 ment was always useful as a veil which, in case of 
 danger, might conceal the real designs of the 
 Hetaria; for it contains, in fact, not one para- 
 graph which is directly revolutionary, though the 
 object of every sentence be to prepare the Greeks 
 for a mature and successful insurrection . 
 
 To inform the ignorance, and to correct the immo- 
 rality of his countrymen, — to make their imagina- 
 tion useful, and their patriotism practical,— to 
 establish, in short, a national character as the basis 
 of political regeneration, — was a design worthy of 
 a patriot and a statesman. But in considering the 
 method proposed as alone capable of communi- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xlvii 
 
 eating that sort of education which is the necessary 
 precursor of sober liberty, we are astonished to 
 observe that he places the duties of public instruc- 
 tion exclusively in the hands of the priests, — of 
 that illiterate body which requires, he tells us, 
 great general improvement, if not entire re-orga- 
 nization, before it can enter upon the honourable 
 office which he has set apart for it. Why are not 
 those who have received their education in Eng- 
 land, in Switzerland, in America, or even in 
 Russia, as competent to enlighten their uninformed 
 brethren as the priest who has learnt his alphabet 
 under the cannon of a Turkish fortress? Why 
 are those to be made the sole instructors of the 
 Grecian youth, whose very profession incapacitates 
 them from travelling in search of that instruction 
 which it is impossible to obtain at home ? 
 
 Why, for this plain reason ; those to whom the 
 entire education of the people is confided, will ever 
 retain a very powerful influence over their opinions 
 and their passions ; and in any matter of political 
 importance, the Greek priesthood were quite sure 
 to be the machine of the only power in Europe 
 professing the Greek religion. Here it is, then, that 
 
xlviii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 we discover the ambiguous features of the political * 
 Hetarist ! Under the well-disposed drapery of the 
 patriot of Greece, it is here that we recognise the 
 minister of Russia. 
 
 Can we, then, too warmly congratulate the good 
 fortune, or the good courage of Greece, which has 
 rescued her from the scholastic hierarchy which 
 her most enlightened children were preparing for 
 her, and which was calculated to have conducted 
 her so very peaceably from the jaws of the tiger 
 into the embrace of the bear-}*? 
 
 It is true, that the publication of this document 
 produced, for the moment, the intended effect ; no 
 movement was then made towards insurrection ; 
 
 * It is of little importance whether the author were or were 
 not literally a member of the Hetaria, as long as he wrote 
 papers for its regulation, and thus countenanced the belief that 
 he was its patron. 
 
 t 1 do not accuse Capodistiias of any wish to enslave his 
 country, even to Russia. lie appears to have had two great 
 objects in view ; first, the moral regeneration of Greece, and 
 next, her emancipation from the Turkish Government ; and he 
 imagined, perhaps, that a strict union with Russia was favour- 
 able to the former object, while it presented the only visible 
 hope of accomplishing the latter ; for no man thought so 
 highly of Grecian talent, or so contemptibly of Turkish power, 
 as ever to dream that that desirable event could be brought to 
 pass without some sort of foreign intervention. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xlix 
 
 but was it probable that that restless and sanguine 
 character, after being once roused to the hope of 
 liberty, and irritated by distant glimpses of her 
 radiant features, should return, at a single exhorta- 
 tion, to a state of permanent and philosophical 
 tranquillity ? What availed it to say, — '< My 
 brethren, recover your calmness ; educate your 
 children, reverence your priests, and continue to 
 bend before the sabre of the Infidel. For you the 
 hour is not yet come ; you must die such as you 
 were born; and thus, in some distant age, your 
 posterity, perhaps, may merit at the hands of 
 Providence a less rigorous destiny !" 
 
 Of all instructions, the most difficult of practice 
 are those which bid us reject the good which 
 appears present and obvious, for the sake of the 
 distant and invisible future. 
 
 All, however, remained tolerably quiet till the 
 period of the rebellion of Ah Pasha, which took 
 place about a year and a half after Capo d'Istrias"' 
 visit to Corfu. A new fermentation was then 
 perceived throughout Greece, and all the springs 
 of the Hetaria were once more put in motion. 
 Agents or members of that body, calling them- 
 
1 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 selves Apostles (AwoffToXo*), pressed down in 
 swarms from the banks of the Danube, the Dneis- 
 ter, and the Dnieper, and proclaimed by their 
 presence the approach of the crisis whicli they 
 were hastening by their exhortations. The seda- 
 tive which had proved formerly of so much avail, 
 was again administered ; and during tho winter of 
 1820-1, written copies of the "Observations 1 ' 
 were once more abundantly distributed; but the 
 disease had increased in violence, or the medicine 
 had lost its efficacy ; and the voice of moderation 
 and policy was lost in the explosion of the Greek 
 Revolution. 
 
 Let us terminate our present inquiry in as few 
 words as possible. The existence of a powerful 
 and increasing society, of which the express object 
 was the liberation of Greece, and which was ar- 
 dently bent on the accomplishment of that object, 
 rendered the permanent tranquillity of the country 
 absolutely impossible. A speedy convulsion was 
 probable, — some convulsion perfectly inevitable ; 
 and any favour of external circumstances was alone 
 required to decide the moment of action. 
 First, the rebellion of Ali Pasha, by creating an 
 
INTRODUCTION. Ij 
 
 enemy to their oppressors, rather than a friend to 
 themselves, was yet a strong incentive to the zeal 
 of the Hetarists ; and next, the revolution of Na- 
 ples was mistaken, by their eager and unexperi- 
 enced eyes, for the beacon of liberty. Greece be- 
 held the signal, and rose. 
 
 The revolution of Naples was extinguished by a 
 breath, and the hoary rebel of Yanina has long 
 since suffered the rebel's fate. But the cause of 
 Greece, as it is distinguished in principle from the 
 others, so has it been contrasted in success; and 
 its confident supporters no longer tremble at the 
 assaults of an enemy whom Providence seems al- 
 ready to have blasted with that madness which He 
 has ordained to be the precursor of destruction. 
 
 An important Memoir has lately been written in 
 Greek, on the origin of the Revolution, of which 
 I have seen the French translation. I am not 
 acquainted with the author, but though he has 
 permitted himself to retail some falsehoods, on 
 one or two of which I shall presently remark, he 
 
 e2 
 
lii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 is evidently well initiated in the mysteries of the 
 Hetaria, and is in principle a CapocTIstrian, — that 
 is, a person who would have prepared his country 
 for emancipation by a long process of literary and 
 moral education ; as such, he is of course an enemy 
 to the enterprise of Ypsilanti. 
 
 From this Memoir, I learn that Prince Mauro- 
 cordato, the Ex-Hospodor of Moldavia, conceived 
 and executed, during his exile in Russia, as 
 early as the year 1802, the project of forming a 
 society of Greeks, for the purpose of instructing 
 and enlightening their countrymen. This society 
 had no immediate political view ; its only ostensi- 
 ble object was the education of Greece, — the conse- 
 quences of that education were foreseen rather than 
 expressed. Prince Maurocordato died in 1814, — 
 the direction of the society fell into the hands of 
 less patient politicians; it changed its name, its 
 nature, and its principles, and became such as I 
 have described the Hetaria Philike. Four persons 
 (whose names are not mentioned) are represented 
 as having assumed the direction of it. — " lis 
 creerent dans Tombre et pour agir sur Tesprit ebloui 
 du vulgaire, une sorte de gouvernement designe 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 liii 
 
 sous le nom d 1 h^h dont ils sc firent les chefs, 
 et qu'ils disoient en outre compose de Grecs in- 
 fluens au service de Russie. Ils redigerent ensuite 
 des statuts, et la formule du terrible serment qu'on 
 devoit souscrire. ,> 
 
 The author of the Memoir represents them as 
 having sought converts only among the " popu- 
 lace, 1 ' but as he afterwards mentions 1000 piastres 
 as the sum usually paid on admission, we may be 
 allowed to suspect some exaggeration in this part 
 of his statement. Many of the most flourishing 
 merchants did, no doubt, refuse their names to a 
 society of which the discovery would have led 
 them to immediate destruction; but it would be 
 quite absurd to suppose that it did not contain 
 much of the wealth and education, as well as of 
 the patriotism of the nation. 
 
 The following specimen of the kind of letter 
 by which the Adelphophoeetos announced his adop- 
 tion to the Council or Arche is very curious : — 
 
 " Cher Ami M. Dimitri, 
 
 " Je m'emprese de vous donner la nouvelle de mon 
 arrive'e dans ma chore patrie, Smyrne. Le voyage 
 
liv 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 a et6 fort malheureux, et sembloit comrae le pre- 
 curseur du triste evenement qui m'attendoit ici, la 
 mort de man pere, qui m' a ordonne par testament 
 de vous faire passer mille piastress destinees a la 
 reparation de Peglise de son patron St. Jean. Je 
 profite de Foccasion de M. Zacharia pour vous 
 faire tenir la dite somme, dont je vous prie de 
 nVaccuser la reception, 1 ' fyc. fyc. 
 
 The more active chiefs of the Hetaria sustained 
 the ardour of the society by repeated promises of 
 Russian protection; their sincerity, however, was 
 sometimes doubted, and a Moraite named Galabi, 
 or Galeotti, was sent to Petersburgh, to ascertain 
 the real state of the case by a personal conference 
 with Capo d'lstrias. That minister immediately un- 
 deceived him as to any hope of assistance from 
 Russia, and Galabi returned to inform his country- 
 men; but he had scarcely set foot in the Morea 
 when he died. 
 
 Not long after that event, Alexander Ypsilanti 
 allowed himself to be called to the direction of the 
 Hetaria, — M II se declara, l'organ officiel de cette 
 puissance occulte — E<po§oy yevjxos- rys A gyps — il crca 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 lv 
 
 des Ephoris, ou commit es dirigeants sur divers points 
 de la Grece ; il leur recommanda Femploi de tous 
 les moyens propres a seduire les Grecs; a orga- 
 niser l'insurrection *. 11 He obtained a two years' 1 
 leave of absence from his military duties, and fixed 
 his head-quarters at Kischenow. However, two 
 other deputies were sent by the still diffident 
 Moraites, the one to Petersburgh, and the other 
 to Kischenow. The latter became the dupe of 
 Ypsilanti, and returned to the Morea with a false 
 Ukase, " ou Ton faisoit tenir PEmpereur le lan- 
 gage le plus favourable aux Grecs, et le plus hos- 
 tile contre la Porte. Camarina (the other deputy) 
 
 i 
 s'etoit rendu directement a St. Petersbourg. II 
 
 y avoit vu le Comte Capodistrias ; ce ministre, 
 non-content de donner verbalement a Pentreprise 
 du Prince un desaveu formel, avoit remis au 
 depute Moraite des letters circulaires pour tous 
 •les primats de la Peninsule; il y devoila l'abyme 
 ou Ton cherchoit a les entrainer. Mais Cama- 
 
 * A Russian subject, whose activity in exciting revolu- 
 tionary movements in Greece, during the autumn of 1820, can 
 be sufficiently proved, was probably the agent and dupe of 
 Ypsilanti. 
 
lvi 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 rina devoit eprover lc sort de Galabi; pret dc 
 s^mbarquer a Galatcz pour traverser le Danube 
 il y mourut assossine ; sa mort intercepta de 
 nouvcau la verite que deux fois les Moraites 
 avoient tente de connoitre. , ' > Ypsilanti then at- 
 tempted to excite the Servians to revolt. His 
 papers were intercepted by the Turks at the 
 passage of the Ada on the Danube, and disco- 
 vered his designs. His efforts to revolutionize 
 Moldavia and Walachia were, as is well known, 
 equally fruitless. " Un seul rencontre avec les 
 Turcs dispersa les foibles rcssources d'Ypsilanti, 
 et contraint de fuir en Autriche, il n'y trouva 
 qu 1 une prison." 
 
 This Memoir contains so much good sense, 
 and probably so much truth, that it may be worth 
 while to contradict its errors, particularly as they 
 are not uncommonly repeated from other quarters. 
 " On sait, (says the author,) que les Isles et la 
 Moree n'ont leve l'etendard de la revoke qu' apres 
 avoir vu massacrer leur Patriarche," fyc. fyc. Could 
 the Author of this able paper be ignorant that 
 the town of Patras was actually taken by the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Ivi 
 
 Greeks on the 4th of April (1821): that the re- 
 volt of Maina and Spezzia Avas contemporary with 
 this event; and that the Patriarch was not exe- 
 cuted till the 21st of the same month ? so that 
 his death was, of course, unknown in the Morea, 
 till nearly a month after its inhabitants had taken 
 up arms. 
 
 Another fable which the Author condescends 
 to repeat is, I believe, of French invention ; at 
 least, it was first published by M. RafFenel, in 
 his poetical History of the Revolution, — that the 
 Porte received its first information of the meditated 
 revolt from the British ambassador, Lord Strang- 
 ford. Now, if it had so happened that his lord- 
 ship had discovered the formation of a plot 
 threatening the very existence of the Government 
 to which he was accredited, I am not at all pre- 
 pared to say, that his duty would not have obliged 
 him to reveal it. Happily, however, he was not 
 placed in so painful a situation. He had scarcely 
 set his foot in his palace when the insurrection 
 broke out, and was utterly ignorant that any 
 such event was in preparation. I do not make 
 
lviii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 this assertion on slight authority, and am sin- 
 cerely convinced of its truth. 
 
 That this charge (for as such it is intended) 
 should have been advanced by a person so en- 
 tirely uninstructed in the secrets of the Revolution 
 as M. Raft'enel, we need feel no astonishment ; 
 but I do marvel that it should be repeated by 
 the intelligent Author of " the Memoir;' 1 for he 
 tells us, in the very same paper, that Ypsilanti's 
 letters to the Servians were intercepted by the 
 Turks; an event which took place some weeks 
 previous to Lord Strangford's first appearance at 
 Constantinople *. 
 
 I will waste on this subject one more unneces- 
 sary sentence. The prematurity and consequent 
 failure of Ypsilanti's expedition, is attributed to 
 Lord Strangford's disclsoures. Now his Lord- 
 ship arrived at his post on February the 21st, and 
 Ypsilanti was publishing proclamations at Yassi 
 
 * The letters, of which I have seen copies, were written 
 early in January ; and they expressed the designs of their 
 Author in terms so clear, that the divan could hardly require 
 any further illumination on that subject. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 lix 
 
 on the 6th of March following. Thus, then, in 
 the space of one fortnight, Lord Strangford dis- 
 covered a plot, and gave information to the Porte ; 
 the fact became notorious to the friends of Ypsi- 
 land at Constantinople; they communicated it to 
 him at Kischenow ; and the prince in consequence 
 left Kischenow, and travelled to Yassi! This is 
 beyond absurdity — the slightest computation of 
 distances — the slightest knowledge of the state of 
 the country, prove it to be impossible. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
The following Chapters contain the substance of 
 information collected at the various places of which 
 they severally bear the dates. Circumstances, which 
 it is needless to mention, have prevented their earlier 
 publication; but they will still be found to contain 
 some novelty and some truth. The Author has 
 ever been entirely unconnected with any Phil-hellenic 
 Society, and was directed in his researches by no 
 other desire, than that of obtaining the most au- 
 thentic information. 
 

H'bltshJtfthe actjinertr Janftal'iDzS by John Miirray 'Albemarle Street Lor,J„ 
 
VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 I. 
 
 Constantinople, November, 1823. 
 
 PEOPLE have surely some right to complain, 
 that after all the demands which continue to be 
 made upon their purse and their enthusiasm, they 
 are allowed to remain in complete ignorance of the 
 real state of that country and that contest, in sup- 
 port of which they are sacrificing their money and 
 their reason so liberally. Letters from Herman- 
 stadt, and Semlin, and Cronstadt, and Odessa, 
 fabricated at Augsburg, Paris, and London, the 
 * three great mints of rhil-hellenic mendacity, have 
 
 * At Zante, Trieste, Frankfort, Stuttgard, supplementary 
 laboratories have existed or exist. Even the sanctity of 
 Vienna, the very temple of despotism, has been violated by 
 a party of these daring and ingenious republicans. Their 
 machinery was discovered, and their papers examined, — they 
 were in the pay of the Allgemeine Zeitung, and were proved to 
 have furnished many of the most animated, and not least authen- 
 tic, portions of its oriental correspondence. 
 
 B 
 
■^■B 
 
 \i!''-*r-,ic-\*r I irv, , »c".tifc-,'<»-".'ir-,ifr" - ) J fckrV.-*i»i< ,£*»■"<*. .*<'i»> •jiir'-rfh' "<•-' 
 
 2 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 trifled too long with their hopes and their pa- 
 tience. So many sanguinary battles when no skir- 
 mishers ever joined, so many conquests when the 
 sabre has never been drawn, so many details ot 
 heroism simply and purely fabulous, have at last 
 driven many persons to the determination of be- 
 lieving nothing. From this incessant storm of 
 forgery and falsehood, they seek their only refuge 
 in utter incredulity. And this is one of the great 
 evils which the false friends of freedom inflict 
 upon the cause which they profess to advocate; 
 human endurance is not proof against the rapid 
 succession of their impudent impostures. 
 
 It must be confessed, indeed, that these persons 
 have chosen the less laborious occupation : it is far 
 easier to fabricate falsehoods than to ascertain 
 truth. At Augsburg, fyc, all the secrets of the 
 Revolution are public and notorious ; but we are 
 not nearly so well informed at Constantinople. 
 However, three months of tolerable perseverance 
 have enabled me to collect some facts, and to form 
 some opinions, which may be as valuable as those 
 usually published on the subject ; and when I shall 
 proceed, as will speedily be the case, to the scene 
 of this barbaric conflict, it is possible that my com- 
 munications may become more interesting. In the 
 mean time, it is a little difficult to determine to 
 what point we shall direct our immediate atten- 
 tion. Shall we plunge into the cold and winding 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 3 
 
 waters of diplomacy, and exhaust our passionless 
 periods in eulogies on the * longanimous emperor 
 of the north, the soi-disant protector of his bleed, 
 ing correligionists ? The details of diplomacy are 
 not, indeed, without their attractions; and this 
 negotiation in particular, directed and adorned by 
 the genius of our ambassador at Constantinople, is 
 in its nature so singular, and in its conduct so 
 abundant in skill and talent, that it would alone 
 furnish materials for an interesting and instructive 
 volume. But as its real object has been to prevent 
 a Russian war, not to ameliorate the condition of 
 the Greeks, and as the latter consideration has been 
 made throughout only subservient to efforts, thus 
 far happily successful, to preserve the peace of 
 Europe, it would be inconsistent with my present 
 plan to engage in any particulars on that subject. 
 
 Shall we then escape to the discussion of com- 
 mercial matters, and examine and compare the past 
 and present condition of the Levant trade ? The 
 
 * This word is now consecrated, in diplomatic language, to 
 the exclusive homage of the Emperor Alexander ,• the attri- 
 bute of the Czar is " longanimity." The term " correligionaire" 
 is not less in use to express the tie which is supposed to unite 
 him to the Greek subjects of the Porte. 
 
 On this union is founded his right of interference in the affairs 
 of the Ottoman empire, a right which proves, on investigation, 
 to be extremely limited. If any of my readers are curious to 
 observe on how narrow a foundation what extensive pretensions 
 can be erected, I refer them to Appendix I. 
 
 B2 
 
'V 4. ..■»--»** 
 
 4t?--ir--%:-- *• sfc*. 
 
 .i^^iKv ^H v . ^^^H 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 details of commerce, to become attractive, must 
 first be made intelligible ; and this attempt, tedious 
 in itself, and laborious, might very possibly ter- 
 minate in perplexity. 
 
 If, then, both commerce and diplomacy be too 
 prolix and too dull for us, where shall we take 
 refuge from ennui ? One field is still open to us — 
 a field where all the passions of man, unchained 
 and unmuzzled, have occasioned nothing but crime 
 and misery, — where, under the names of execu- 
 tion and commotion, murder and massacre have 
 been allowed their course, — and when the most 
 impotent or most wicked of all imaginable govern- 
 ments has exerted itself to display the perfection of 
 wickedness or impotence. 
 
 I will proceed, then, to draw a very short outline 
 of the principal occurrences which have taken place 
 here since the beginning of this insurrection. The 
 facts and the dates I have ascertained, partly from 
 oral communications of residents, and partly from 
 the use of one or two very copious journals, care- 
 fully kept during the whole period by persons who 
 had access to the best information. 
 1S21 The 16th of April was distinguished by the 
 sacrifice of the first victim of consideration. Con- 
 stantine Morusi, Dragoman to the Porte, a young 
 man of many accomplishments, was waiting to 
 attend a conference with the Internuncio, when 
 he was seized without any previous notice, carried 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 5 
 
 to an apartment in the Serai, called Alay Kiosk, 1821 
 and instantly executed. Time was not even al- 
 lowed him to put off his official dress, by which an 
 insult was understood to be implied to his office, 
 the highest about court to which a Greek could 
 aspire. The reason given for this act was deemed 
 amply satisfactory by every good Mussulman ; in 
 the translation of a Greek intercepted letter, he had 
 omitted, it seems, a whole paragraph implicating a 
 foreign court. He had, indeed, ventured upon 
 this omission by the advice of two of the principal 
 ministers, but they wanted either the time or the 
 power to save him. The Sultan discovered the 
 fraud by procuring a double version of the letter, 
 done, it is believed, by a Sciot gardener in the 
 Serai. 
 
 On that and the two following days ten other 
 executions took place, of which the most remark- 
 able was that of a very respectable member of the 
 Mavrocordato family. It is needless to add that 
 these murders are never preceded by any legal 
 process, or by any form or formality of justice 
 whatsoever. 
 
 Having spread general terror in the Fanal by 
 these and similar measures, the fury of the Sultan 
 was next directed to the Church; for the Churcn, 
 as is well known, has ever been considered by 
 the Turks as the medium of communication 
 between the Porte and the Rajahs as a body, 
 
If" i>- 
 
 .<-■-«*" <»• . *■' *»..V ■V , .<>-,.*- • *•' *►'•*-•.*.'«*". V .'*•'•* 
 
 ■ 
 
 6 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1821 and as in some degree responsible for their conduct. 
 
 ~ The Patriarch at this period was Gregory, a native 
 of Dimitzana, who had passed eighty-five blameless 
 years in the exercise of piety : nothing, even by 
 those who are least disposed to execrate the Turkish 
 government, has ever been breathed against the 
 character of this holy man. Twice had he re- 
 signed an office too conspicuous to please his un- 
 ambitious virtue, and he had been called to it for 
 the third time by the love and admiration of his 
 countrymen. On Easter Sunday, at five in the 
 afternoon, at the moment of quitting his patri- 
 archal chapel, after the discharge of his religious 
 duties, he was met by certain Turkish officers, who, 
 after going through the farce of his deposition, 
 conducted him to the door of his palace, where 
 they hanged him *. In this situation his body was 
 allowed to remain for two days, that, if there still 
 breathed a Greek who was inclined to preserve 
 any feeling of fidelity to the government under 
 which he was born, he might learn by that spectacle 
 to abhor and disown it. 
 
 The body, like that of the lowest criminal, was 
 destined, after sufficient exposure, to be thrown 
 into the sea ; which is distant not more than two 
 or three hundred yards from the " Metropolis,'" 
 
 * The three archbishops of Ephesus, Dercou, (whose diocese 
 is the whole tract of the Bosphorus,) and Akiallo, were hanged 
 at the same instant in different parts of the city. 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE. 7 
 
 and law or custom required, that it should be 1821 
 dragged down thither by the legs, naked. Such 
 an office was beneath the dignity of any Turk, 
 and to have obliged Greeks to the performance of 
 it, would have been thought perhaps an unneces. 
 sary insult. The Jewish quarter is immediately 
 adjoining; and, for that reason, three or four 
 Chiffooks, Jews of the very lowest condition, 
 were compelled to execute a task which might not, 
 perhaps, be ungrateful to them*. 
 
 The most singular part of the story remains to 
 be told ; and it is not on slight evidence that I 
 have been brought to believe it. In the course of 
 the following night, the body was fished up by a 
 party of zealous Greeks, and subsequently con- 
 veyed by an Ionian vessel to Odessa ; where, after 
 being for some time exposed, and recognised by 
 
 * This story, like almost every fact connected with this 
 Revolution, has been related, both at the moment and more 
 lately, with various circumstances of exaggeration. The Pa- 
 triarch was not executed over the gate of his chapel, but over 
 tljat of his palace ; nor, as far as I can learn, in his pontifical 
 robes ; no part of the congregation was massacred, nor was the 
 church itself violated by the Turkish mob. The palace indeed 
 was entered and plundered, but not destroyed. Even the 
 wretched Jews, who performed their office, I believe, with 
 great calmness and decency, have not escaped the condescension 
 of calumny ; and many of their brethren have suffered prosecu- 
 tion from the Greeks on account of the odium thus unjustly 
 thrown upon the whole race. 
 
»_ ,V-<:-,V t <* 
 
 8 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1821 many individuals, it was interred with great pomp 
 and solemnity. 
 
 I will not detail the many reasons which are 
 mentioned as having led the Turkish government 
 to commit this act of madness. The Russian am- 
 bassador, to whom the right of remonstrance seemed 
 more particularly to belong, demanded of the Porte, 
 with his usual energy, the occasion and object of 
 so savage an exercise of authority ; but he appears 
 to have obtained no other satisfaction than the 
 assurance, that no insult was thereby intended to 
 the Greek church ; and that the Porte was in pos- 
 session of letters which proved the guilt of the 
 Patriarch. An application to be allowed to see 
 those letters was, of course, refused. 
 
 The effect of this most impolitic measure was 
 easily foreseen by every one, except the " Impe- 
 rial * Butcher." The desire for revenge with 
 which it individually inspired every insurgent, was 
 roused into life and action by the very hopelessness 
 of pardon which it seemed intended to proclaim; 
 in fact, some such act was absolutely necessary at 
 that moment, in the uncertainty or despair of 
 Russian patronage, to confirm and consolidate the 
 Revolution. 
 
 * Sultan Kassapi (Butcher) is the only name by which the 
 Greeks, since the execution of the Patriarch, designate their late 
 master, Sultan Machmood. 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 !) 
 
 The lawlessness of the Turkish population 1S21 
 which had previously manifested itself, appears to 
 have acquired more audacity after that period. 
 Some murders had been committed on Rajahs ; nor 
 was it held prudent even for Franks to venture to 
 any distance from their own doors, though the 
 continual discharge of guns and pistols kept up by 
 Turkish soldiers, for the most part with no mis- 
 chievous intention, and from the mere love of 
 noise, probably created an alarm much greater 
 than the real danger. 
 
 Baron Strogonoff was not of that opinion, and, 
 after demanding an additional guard of thirty Ja- 
 nissaries for his own person, he proposed to the 
 assembled ministers, to sign a joint declaration, 
 inviting the courts of Europe to send a fleet to 
 Constantinople for the protection of the Christian 
 inhabitants. 
 
 This measure appeared to Lord Strangford to 
 be much more violent than the occasion at all re- 
 quired, and, as that minister had first succeeded 
 in obtaining from the Grand Vizier in person a 
 written assurance of the sincere determination of 
 the government to arrest the disorders complained 
 of, he felt justified in refusing his signature ; his 
 example was followed by the great majority of the 
 diplomatic body. 
 
 It was on this occasion that the insolent Mus- 
 covite, irritated by the failure of his favourite 
 
■■ 
 
 ,-■ C. t»- (, <r « MpHM 
 
 10 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1821 scheme, presumed publicly to say to the British 
 ambassador, " that his name would descend to 
 posterity, stained with blood," and, on leaving the 
 room, he is * believed to have addressed to him these 
 words : — " My Lord, 1 would wish you, too, good- 
 night, were I not assured that with such a con- 
 science you can never sleep." " Bon soir, M. le 
 Baron !"" was his lordship's cool reply to so savage 
 an insult. 
 
 The Turkish government kept its word ; and 
 the excesses of the rabble, even the discharge of 
 their fire-arms, were for the moment prevented, and 
 nearly a month passed away in tolerable tranquillity. 
 On the 1st of June, the feast of the Bhamazan com- 
 menced, and on the 15th is the ceremony of the 
 distribution of the Baclava, a pastry, sweetened with 
 honey, which the ladies of the seraglio are supposed 
 to present to the Janissaries. Now the astrologers 
 had unfortunately predicted, that some -f- evil was 
 to befall the people on that day, and it became the 
 serious object of the government to avert that evil. 
 For this purpose, they deferred the ceremony till 
 the day following, on the plea that the 15th was 
 
 * I pretend to no initiation into the secrets of diplomatic 
 meetings, but what is universally told and believed usually ap- 
 proaches very near to truth. 
 
 t Another interpretation of the prophecy is, that some crime 
 was to be committed by the people on that day. In that case, 
 the government equally obviated the evil by taking the crimi- 
 nality upon itself. 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 11 
 
 a Friday ; and, in order to remove the threatened 1891 
 calamity, at least from the Faithful portion of 
 their subjects, they ordered * five Greek archbishops, 
 two prelates of inferior rank, and a great number 
 of laymen to be publicly hanged. On the 16th 
 the distribution took place, without any remarkable 
 incident, other than that nine murders were com- 
 mitted in different parts of the city on Christian 
 and Jewish tradesmen. 
 
 About the same time, the Porte selected on dif- 
 ferent days the number of four hundred and fifty 
 Greek tradesmen or artificers, and sent them into 
 the interior of Asia, to work in the mines of Maa- 
 den. In the mean time, the executions continued 
 with great ardour, and during the few first days 
 in July, above seventy Greeks of different descrip- 
 tions are believed to have suffered. 
 
 Much inquiry was made about this time, in con- 
 sequence of one of the demands of the Russian 
 Ultimatum, into the number and condition of the 
 Greek churches in the capital and its vicinity. It 
 appeared, that in the city itself there are twenty- 
 four churches and chapels ; in the environs, as 
 far as Phanaraki on the one side, and St. Stephano 
 on the other, there are, under public sanction, from 
 thirty-six to forty more. In Princes Islands, 
 there are other eleven ; making a total of seventy- 
 
 * The archbishops of Dercou, Adrianople, Salonica, Tor- 
 navo, and Silivria. 
 
■HMBHHMplflVW^PV 
 
 12 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1821 three or seventy-four. Of those within the walls, 
 seven only had been injured in the interior, as 
 to the pulpits, desks, 8fC, but no one demolished ; 
 of those r without, one only had been totally de- 
 stroyed, and six others had suffered some internal 
 damage, so that about sixty out of the seventy- 
 four churches remained totally free from injury. 
 This fact alone proves, that the general anarchy 
 supposed to have existed in Constantinople at this 
 period has been not a little exaggerated, and that 
 it is to the studied brutality of the government, not 
 to the lawless violence of the people, that the 
 Greeks are indebted for the greater part of their 
 calamities. 
 
 Not very long after the departure of Baron 
 StrogonofF, there appeared to be an opportunity 
 for arranging the differences between the Turks 
 and the Greeks, on terms not unfavourable to the 
 latter ; and a paper was actually drawn up, by the 
 proposal of Lord Strangford, which was intended 
 to be addressed to the insurgents by the foreign 
 ministers united at Constantinople. It awaited 
 only the sanction of the principal courts of Europe. 
 
 The refusal of that sanction was, I believe, first 
 notified by the cabinet of Vienna. That of St. Pe- 
 tersburgh is stated to have been equally violent 
 (and with more reason) in its expressions of dis- 
 approbation ; and the late minister of Great Bri- 
 tain is said to have subscribed, without hesitation, 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 13 
 
 to the political principle which prevented the mi- 1821 
 nisters of legitimate sovereigns from all interference 
 between the established government of Turkey 
 and its Christian rebels. 
 
 And yet the moment, I think and hope, is not 
 far distant, when, after a few more massacres shall 
 have been committed, and a few more cities and 
 islands burnt and destroyed, we shall observe the 
 ministers of the very powers in question engaged 
 in binding up the wounds which they might and 
 ought to have prevented. The terms of recon- 
 ciliation must now indeed be far more favour- 
 able to the insurgents than any which they could 
 have hoped for at that period of the struggle, and 
 so far will the ends of oppression be disappointed, — 
 and so far may we scoff at the infallibility of those 
 statesmen, who foresaw, in the might and legiti- 
 macy of Turkey, the sure and speedy extinction of 
 the Greek Revolution. 
 
W;;±-'A>!>it*-i>f vi-.VjVfc-,! ^'*t-hm:-^r^tr-/im-tr^r. 
 
 mm 
 
 J4 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 II. 
 
 
 Constantinople, December. 
 
 1821 Tke journals of the four last months of this me- 
 lancholy year are filled with the execution of pri- 
 soners brought in, from time to time, from Mol- 
 davia and Walachia — the unfortunate victims of 
 an enterprise, in itself as hopeless as ever was 
 undertaken ; but which, as a diversion, has proved 
 of such eminent advantage to the cause of Greece, 
 that posterity will be disposed to pardon the en- 
 thusiast who conducted it. 
 
 Sept. 22. The Porte communicated an order to 
 the Armenians, through their Patriarch, to abstain 
 from all communication with the Greeks, and even 
 to dismiss any Greeks who might happen to be in 
 their service. An exception was then particularly 
 specified in favour of all such Greek women as were 
 employed as nurses ; who were allowed to remain, 
 until the infants at their breasts should be weaned. 
 
 Nov. 24. A great part of the Turkish fleet came 
 into harbour, and as soon as they were anchored, 
 thirty Greek * prisoners were hanged from the 
 
 * Most of these wretches are believed actually <o have former! 
 part of the crews of the Turkish ships, and to have been se- 
 lected for execution in order to give an appearance of triumph 
 to the return of the fleet. 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 15 
 
 bowsprits of the different ships. This has been 1821 
 described to me by eye-witnesses as the most dis- 
 gusting of the thousand spectacles of horror which 
 had succeeded each other for so many months in 
 tliis mighty theatre of crime and madness. 
 
 Dec. 8. The festival of the birth of Mahomet 
 was celebrated with great splendour and humanity, 
 for it was not ascertained that more than three 
 Greeks, priests, were immolated on that religious 
 occasion. 
 
 The Sultan did not return to the city for the 
 winter till the 17th, as his favourite astrologers 
 had predicted some evil to his person, if he left the 
 country before that day. 
 
 On the 14th of February, in the following year, 1822 
 arrived the intelligence of the * treacherous assassi- 
 nation of Ali Pasha, of Yanina. So miserable a 
 triumph, so disgracefully obtained, would have 
 been made a source of shame and sorrow by any 
 existing government except that of Turkey ; but 
 here it excited only violent and drunken exultation. 
 After the officers who had executed, and the Tar- 
 tars who had announced, the splendid achievement, 
 had been munificently rewarded with purses and 
 
 * The Porte, contrary to custom, produced a kind of official 
 account of this transaction, which was communicated by the 
 Reis Effendi to Lord Strangford. His Lordship kindly obliged 
 me by a copy of it, which will be found in the Appendix. 
 
* I HWVBtiBQfii SHB9fi!0BHH00VS9WMp9ffBKBlHi 
 
 16 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 /' 
 
 1822"pelisses, a grand # council was called at the Porte, 
 to consider the state of relations with ltussia. 
 Certain military officers, the mutevelies, or pay- 
 masters, of the different regiments, were invited to 
 attend, and might be considered representatives of 
 the Janissaries. The ministers assumed a tone of 
 confident indifference as to the result of the nego- 
 tiations, which ill became the actual condition of 
 the empire, and the assembly answered that they 
 were ready to co-operate with the government, 
 whether the present crisis should terminate in 
 peace or in war. On the same day, the directors 
 of the esnafs, or trading corporations of the capital, 
 were all summoned to the Porte, and told by the 
 Kehaga Bey, that " though the Porte is not for the 
 moment at war with Russia, yet is it perfectly pre- 
 pared, in case of such aggression on the part of 
 that power, as the -j- communication of a mediating 
 minister gave a right to expect, to repel force by 
 force." 
 
 The directors understood this as nearly equiva- 
 lent to a declaration of war, and represented it 
 as such to their respective societies. An order was 
 at the same time published in the mosques, that 
 every osmanli should have his arms in constant 
 readiness. The effect of these measures was rapid 
 
 * On the 25th of February. 
 
 + A late note of Count Lutsow, the Austrian internuncio, is 
 believed to have been here alluded to. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 17 
 
 and uncontrollable; the capital and the Sultans ls22 
 presented a singular confusion of audacity, terror, 
 and fanaticism; and spectators believed, that they 
 beheld, in this frightful distortion, the last con- 
 vulsive struggle of the Turkish empire. 
 
 The excesses committed throughout the city be- 
 came at this period so general, that, on the 4th of 
 March, a deputation of Turkish tradesmen waited 
 upon the Porte, and delivered the keys of their 
 magazines into the Kehayah Bey's office. They 
 represented, " that it was impossible to continue 
 their occupations as long as such disorders were 
 committed with such impunity; that the greater 
 part of their traffic was with the Rajahs, which was 
 destroyed by the present persecution; and that 
 they should speedily be obliged to look out for 
 some other residence, where they might prosecute 
 their employments in peace. 1 ' 
 
 In consequence of this bold remonstrance from 
 its Mahometan subjects, the Porte made a feeble, 
 and perhaps insincere, effort to restore tranquillity; 
 a Hattisheriff was issued, and two or three vaga- 
 bonds executed; but with no permanent good 
 effect. I have pleasure, hoAvever, in mentioning, 
 that on the 13th of April, an order was published 
 for the protection of the Christians during the 
 celebration of Easter, and was very generally 
 attended to. 
 
 The lamentable affair of Scio, which took place 
 
 c 
 
I -fc.jimj iiriir^v^iir *'^;ifti ,! ril(*:.'i> 
 
 ■■■ 
 
 18 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1822 soon afterwards, did not contribute to improve the 
 condition of the Rajahs of the capital. On the 
 13th of May, was the first arrival of slaves from 
 that devoted island; and on the 18th, sixteen most 
 respectable merchants, resident at Constantinople, 
 but who were guilty of having been born at Scio, 
 were executed. Three of these persons were by 
 the Turks called hostages, which means that they 
 were persons of influence and character, who had 
 been seized by the Government, and by it made 
 responsible for the conduct of their countrymen. 
 As plausible attempts are sometimes made to justify 
 the Turks in the execution of their hostages, it is 
 right to make known the signification of that word 
 in the Turkish, droit des gens. 
 
 On the 11th of June a plot was discovered for 
 a general massacre of the Christians. Some sol- 
 diers, chiefly Yamafks, who garrison the forts of 
 the Bosphorus, and are the worst description of 
 Musselmen, had bought a great number of Greek 
 clothes, which they had concealed in a butcher's 
 shop in Constantinople; their intention was, in this 
 disguise, to have assassinated so many Turks as to 
 occasion a rumour, which at that moment would 
 have been readily believed, that the Greek popula- 
 tion was in insurrection; and this report would of 
 course have led to a general order for pillage and 
 massacre. This sanguinary plot, which had for its 
 object the destruction of the lives and property of 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 19 
 
 above one hundred thousand innocent persons, was 1SS2 
 discovered by the Janissary Aga, and of those 
 proved to have been engaged in it, some were bas- 
 tinadoed, and one only executed! Such lenity, at 
 such a moment, displayed towards criminality so 
 monstrous, amounted surely to a proclamation of 
 impunity. Several murders were subsequently 
 committed in Galata, and even in Pera, which 
 called for the frequent remonstrances of the foreign 
 ministers, and the British in particular, whose in- 
 terference obtained another ineffectual Hattisheriff 
 from the Sultan. 
 
 The continued sale of the Sciot captives led to 
 the commission of daily brutalities. On June the 
 19th, an order came down to the slave-market for its 
 cessation, and the circumstances which are believed 
 to have occasioned that order are extremely singu- 
 lar, and purely oriental. 
 
 The Island of Scio had been granted many 
 years ago to one of the Sultanas * as an appropria- 
 tion, from which she derived a fixed revenue, and 
 title of interference in all matters relating to po- 
 lice and internal administration. The present pa- 
 troness was Asma Sultana, sister of the Sultan; 
 and that amiable princess received about two hun- 
 dred thousand piastres a-year, besides casual pre- 
 sents, from her flourishing little province; when 
 
 * That is, a sister, cousin, or aunt of the reigning monarch. 
 
 C 2 
 
■ W;'-'fc;.'4»-.i^;^.i^,**.«ir. Vyt^V-fc",. ^>fc 1*^fc .#.*■ 
 
 ■ 
 
 SO 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1822 she was informed of its destruction, her indignation 
 was natural and excessive, and it was directed of 
 course against Valid, the Pasha, who commanded 
 the fort, and the Capudan Pasha, to Avhose miscon- 
 duct she chiefly attributed her misfortune. It was 
 in vain that that officer selected from his captives 
 sixty young and beautiful maidens, whom he pre- 
 sented to the service of her Highness. She re- 
 jected the sacrifice with disdain, and continued her 
 energetic remonstrances against the injustice and 
 illegality of reducing Rajahs to slavery, and ex- 
 posing them for sale in the public markets. 
 
 The Sultan at length yielded to her eloquence, 
 or her importunity; a license, the occasion of 
 hourly brutalities, was suppressed, and we have the 
 satisfaction of believing that this act of rare and 
 unprecedented humanity may be attributed to the 
 influence of a woman. 
 
 On the very night preceding the publication of 
 this order, the rapid vengeance of Heaven had 
 already overtaken the destroyer of Scio. On the 
 24th, the news of the death of the Capudan Pasha 
 were received at Constantinople; and on the day 
 following, whether terrified by so distinct a mani- 
 festation of the anger of Providence, or urged by 
 the repeated exhortations of the foreign ministers, 
 or roused at last to some sense of shame by the 
 spectacle of the horrors it had tolerated, or satiated 
 with carnage and massacre — the Sublime Porte 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 21 
 
 determined, seriously and finally, to compose the 1822 
 disorders of its subjects. 
 
 After the deliberation of a very numerous coun- 
 cil of state, the Sultan published the famous Hatti- 
 sheriff against the Janissaries, which contained the 
 following or similar expressions : — 
 
 " Myself, and all the members of my court, 
 " profess to be Janissaries, according to the ori- 
 " ginal institution of that corps ; but if the word 
 " Janissary is to be held synonymous with that of 
 " thief, assassin, incendiary, I from that instant 
 " cease to be a member of such an institution, and 
 " disavow its existence. If, then, the Janissary 
 " Aga and his officers will come boldly forward 
 " to arrest the calamities which afflict the capital, 
 u I am contented ; but if not, / am resolved to 
 " take up the two boys, my sons, and embark for 
 " some other place ; leaving Constantinople to be 
 " ruled by those ruffians whose enormities make it 
 " a disgrace for me to continue on a throne, which 
 " has become the jest of villany and sedition, and 
 " the butt of foreign ridicule l" 
 
 This energetic proclamation was attended by 
 vigorous proofs of its sincerity. Numerous patrols 
 immediately paraded the streets, and seized a 
 variety of vagabonds who were not prepared for 
 such interference ; many were thrown into prison, 
 others taken to the castle on the Bosphorus, where 
 
'f,<* ■J*'";***. 
 
 ■ H-V,..f , - , XpL'-<-' 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1 S22 they were strangled, and others executed on the 
 spot. One Hassan Bairacdar, of the 21st Oda, 
 who had committed great ravages in the Jewish 
 quarter, resisting the patrol, was shot by them ; 
 his body (like that of the Patriarch) was delivered 
 to certain Jews to drag down and throw into the 
 sea. He was found possessed of one hundred and 
 fifty thousand piastres in gold, and six valuable 
 shawls. Other similar instances are on record, 
 and upon the whole, about two hundred Turks are 
 supposed to have suffered by this violent re-action 
 of justice. 
 
 It only remains for me to add, that since that 
 moment, no such horrors as those which I have 
 mentioned without attempting to describe, have, 
 recurred. Constantinople was restored, by a single 
 effort, from a condition of seeming anarchy, to its 
 usual lethargic repose; and Turks, Jews, and 
 Christians, returned to their former occupations, 
 which have never since been interrupted. 
 
 Even the Government appears to have laid aside 
 its character, when it disarmed the ferocity of its 
 subjects : murders of either description ceased at 
 the same period ; nor is there recorded, during the 
 last fourteen months, one single instance of what is 
 called execution. 
 
 One conclusion we can hardly fail to derive from 
 this coincidence, — that the Porte possessed at any 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 23 
 
 moment, the power of tranquillizing the capital, 
 but that it pursued, up to the period in question, 
 the savage policy of diminishing by every means 
 the numbers and consequence of its Christian sub- 
 jects; when it discovered, at last, the absurdity of 
 that policy, it arrested in an instant both the en- 
 gines of destruction. For the objects of persecu- 
 tion are not yet perfectly exhausted; the most 
 wealthy, it is true, and the most noble, have 
 fallen; but there exist still some fragments of 
 distinguished families, some merchants, some 
 widows, and some orphans, who by their riches, 
 nobility, and innocence, have merited, like their 
 friends and their fathers, the sabre and the bow- 
 string. 
 
 The natural question here suggests itself, — if 
 the Turkish Government be as brutal, and the peo- 
 ple as unimproveable as they are usually described, 
 would not the Christian powers be justified in vio- 
 lently relieving the soil of Europe from the weight 
 of so much wickedness, and so much misery ? The 
 favourite project of driving the Turks into Asia — 
 does it not become almost a duty to humanity? 
 God forbid that I should advocate such suspicious 
 philanthropy ; three millions of human beings are 
 not to be deliberately pillaged and expatriated for 
 any crimes of their Government, ignorant though 
 they be, and infidel; every principle of justice 
 
!lv'.^^"'.«y>^.^^<v¥^*>^^lv^;*i^^ ' 
 
 M 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 combats such a design, and every principle of re- 
 ligion. 
 
 Besides this, it is well known that the Mussul- 
 man part of the population is subject to no species 
 of general oppression : the habitual severity of the 
 Government is exhausted on the Rajahs. To 
 rescue from the injustice of the Porte its Christian 
 subjects is, indeed, a scheme consonant with every vir- 
 tuous wish, but of a nature somewhat too chivalrous 
 for this diplomatic age : its entire accomplishment is, 
 in fact, nearly impracticable ; for there are Arme- 
 nians, Bulgarians, and others, so incorporated with 
 the empire, as to make it difficult to tear them 
 asunder. But the emancipation of the larger and 
 more active portion of the Christian inhabitants 
 will be eventually effected by the success of the 
 Greek Revolution. The actual insurgents are, 
 indeed, not very numerous; but a rapid emigration 
 of Greeks from all parts of Turkey into their own 
 proper Hellas, would assuredly follow the acknow- 
 ledgment of the independence of Greece; while 
 the condition of those who remained would receive 
 from the fears of the Porte much probable ameli- 
 oration. Turkey, indeed, would thus be still fur- 
 ther debilitated, — but Turkey has already displayed 
 such wretched decrepitude, that she can scarcely 
 be considered as retaining any place among the 
 efficient powers of Europe; useless, absolutely, 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 25 
 
 except as far as she occupies certain provinces 
 which Russia might occupy, she is for that reason 
 tolerated, and exists only by sufferance *. 
 
 * Averse from any violent expulsion or subversion of the 
 Ottoman throne, I really do not consider that we are bound to 
 treat it with the same ceremony, or even the same strict atten- 
 tion to justice, which we should exercise towards a civilized 
 government. The misery to which the provinces of Wallachia 
 and Moldavia are reduced by Turkish protection, is perhaps 
 unparalleled in any part of the world; and 1 have been some- 
 times inclined to believe that this evil might be most easily 
 diminished. Transfer the protection of those provinces to 
 Austria, — to that power which is improving with such industry 
 the contiguous provinces of Hungary and Transylvania, — to 
 that Government whose practice is tyrannical only in Italy. 
 Or if the Czar should growl at such a disposition, a part of Mol- 
 davia might be added to the frontiers of his empire. This 
 arrangement would produce, I doubt not, a vast diminution of 
 human wretchedness. But I acknowledge and lament the inuti- 
 lity of political speculation, and I sigh over the hopelessness of 
 any project whose only foundation is humanity. 
 
W-* V V 4-,-V jHH »•'«-•*» i^^H HWHSW 
 
 26 
 
 A VISIT TO GKEECE. 
 
 III. 
 
 # Psara, December. 
 
 I know not how to describe the feeling with which 
 you sally forth from the straits of despotism into 
 the clear and open waters of liberty. Behind you 
 are the confined and castellated Dardenelles; be- 
 fore you the dark blue sea, which is once again 
 •J* Egean. Behind you are all the miseries which 
 attend on ignorance and slavery ; before you (for 
 enthusiasm can ever believe what it wishes) arc 
 
 * Writing from a place called t'aga, (Psara/) with the name 
 "¥<z£iu»o; , Y«j/*v»/, (Psarian, Psarians,) continually ringing in 
 my ears, I found it very difficult to call the island Ypsara, and 
 the people Ypsariotes. Nor is there any reason why the cor- 
 rect orthography should be sacrificed to a practice which is only 
 incipient, and established only by newspapers. But, alas! if 
 the city has been already destroyed, and its intelligent inha- 
 bitants murdered or expatriated, it is of very little import under 
 what name they shall receive the compassion of posterity. 
 
 t It was one of the first and most politic arts of reviving li- 
 berty to include the very language in her scheme of regeneration. 
 The names of Roman and Rajah, associated by ages of op- 
 nression. are row alike disclaimed both by gnvprnmpnt and 
 people; happy to be able to re-assert their long-forgotten 
 claims to the name of Hellenes, and happier still, if the cha- 
 racter of the hero could be assumed as easilv as the title. 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 27 
 
 honour, and patriotism, and virtue, and independ- 
 ence. Behind you is the lair of the sullen Mussul- 
 man, and before are the dwelling-places of Free- 
 men and Christians. So sudden a transition from the 
 noisomeness of that political dungeon into this keen 
 and boisterous air of freedom is productive of ex- 
 ultation at once rapturous and virtuous; and I 
 little envy the selfish insensibility of that man who 
 could pass, without prayers and prejudices, from so 
 dreary a gulf of darkness into a region so full of 
 * light and hope. 
 
 The first object which attracts attention on your 
 approach to this little island is a telegraph. No- 
 thing more is required to prove that you are beyond 
 the barriers of Turkey, and have reached the 
 outworks of liberty. The north-east and eastern 
 sides of the rock present precipices apparently 
 impregnable and entirely unfortified; and it is 
 not till you have sailed round to the south-east 
 and south, that you perceive the Greek banner 
 floating on the mountain-tops. A few small 
 batteries are to be seen commanding the landing- 
 places on this shore, but situated in general 
 much too high to be dangerous to ships of war 
 attacking the city. 
 
 * The While Sea is a name generally applied in the Levant 
 to the beautiful Egcan, as contrasted with the gloominess of 
 those Tuvco-Russian waves which roar to the northward of the 
 Bosphorus. 
 
28 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 Though all vessels direct from Constantinople 
 are subject to a short quarantine here, (as in all the 
 principal independent islands of the Archipelago,) 
 I was allowed to land, with certain precautions, 
 and pay my respects to the primates. I found 
 them assembled, seven or eight in number, in a 
 small, dark, dirty chamber, to which I ascended 
 by a mere ladder. These zealous republicans were 
 seated round the room on carpets, in the * Turkish 
 fashion, [cross- J egged, smoking and turbaned 3 and 
 in their first advances to conversation, there was 
 some affection of Turkish dignity; but it was 
 not long before they betrayed the most entire con- 
 fidence in their own resources with an utter con- 
 tempt for their enemy. " Your batteries are not 
 too powerful." " Sono buone contr 1 i Turchi." 
 "How do you live on this rock?" "-f-Asia sup- 
 plies us with provisions." " Do you hear of any 
 assistance from Europe?" "For three years we 
 have fought without European assistance, and we 
 can continue as we have begun." " For the loan 
 
 
 * This adoption of Turkish manners is very much too 
 common among the leaders of the Revolution, whether priests, 
 primates, or capitani, in every part of Greece; and the 
 parade of orientalism is so much to the taste of the people, 
 that fifty years of independence will scarcely suffice lor its 
 extinction, 
 
 t The active hostility of the Psarians, and their continual 
 descents on the coast of Asia, have ever excited the peculiar 
 indignation of the enemy. 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 09 
 
 which you expect from England, what rate of 
 interest shall you probably pay?"" " We care 
 not about interest or any other conditions, as long 
 as we can once get possession of the dollars." " It 
 is reported, that next summer the Grand Vizier 
 in person is coming out against you. 11 " If 
 Sultan Kassapi himself should come, we have a 
 burloUa for him also. 11 And when it was men- 
 tioned, that the Capudan Pasha had been received 
 with honours on his return from the last fruitless 
 campaign, they did not attempt to extinguish the 
 laughter in which they vented their contempt and 
 astonishment. 
 
 Their famous burlottiere Canaris was then sent 
 for, purposely to give me the opportunity of seeing 
 st) distinguished a patriot ; nor was I sorry to be 
 thus introduced to that celebrated Turcophage. 
 His countenance strvick me as extremely different 
 from that of any Greek I had ever beheld. His 
 eyes expressed not the usual mixture of shrewdness 
 and vivacity ; but rather betrayed a certain wild- 
 ness and enthusiasm, which defect (if in a Grecian 
 and a warrior it be a defect) was sufficiently cor- 
 rected by the grave and manly resolution which 
 was represented in his lower features, while the 
 whole was distinguished by that air of calm- 
 ness and composure which so seldom marks the 
 physiognomy of an oriental Christian. He was 
 
f^ijym 
 
 m 
 
 30 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE; 
 
 obviously intended by nature to command his 
 * countrymen. 
 
 They reckon their population at six or seven- 
 and-twenty thousand, including refugees; and being 
 themselves almost entirely sailors, and therefore 
 frequently absent from home, they retain in their 
 service, for the protection of the island, a corps of 
 about twelve hundred Albanians, whose imitation 
 of European tactics seems confined to the drum 
 which precedes their irregular march. 
 
 Most of the ships of war are at home laid up for 
 the winter, and of the three squadrons which are 
 at sea, two are engaged against a Grecian enemy. 
 Tricheri and Volo have lately accepted the Turk- 
 ish amnesty, and the Psarians have in consequence 
 established the blockade of the Gulf. " Hellenes, 
 (they say,) who are faithless to the cause, are the 
 most dangerous of our enemies."" The Samians 
 too, some months ago, refused to accept a Psarian 
 governor or Eparch, appointed by the central go- 
 vernment. The Psarians immediately blockaded 
 the ports of Samos, and thus prevented those in- 
 cursions into Asia, which had proved so distressing 
 to the common enemy. This affair, however, is 
 
 * This might be fancy, but it is an exact description of the 
 effect produced on me by the appearance of a person who was 
 not then nearly so eminent as he is said to have been rendered 
 by his subsequent exploits. 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 31 
 
 now (they assure me) on the point of termination*. 
 Another small squadron assists the troops of Ulysses 
 in the blockade of Negropont. 
 
 The Psarians are genuine Greeks, with no inter- 
 mixture of blood, Turkish or Albanian. They 
 have nothing in appearance or character which is 
 not truly national. Ingenious, loquacious, lively 
 to excess, active, enterprising, vapouring, and dis- 
 putatious, they form a marvellous contrast with the 
 solemn Mussulman whom I have just left indo- 
 lently swaggering about the streets of Constantino- 
 ple. And, I may add, that I have never seen a 
 population more abundant in beauty and intelli- 
 gence of countenance than that of Psara,-f-. 
 
 Samos contains about forty thousand inhabitants; 
 and she can muster, on the slightest rumour of dan- 
 ger, six thousand Palecari, (YlaXnxtpi,) oryoung war- 
 riors, for her defence. These men are in no wav 
 drilled or disciplined ; but they are extremely well 
 armed, and practised in irregular warfare by per- 
 petual incursions into the opposite continent. The 
 constant success of these incursions, as well as the 
 repulse of the Turkish attack in July, 1821, has 
 
 * And such, happily, was the fact. Indeed, I have been 
 assured, that the blockade of Samos was already raised when I 
 was at Psara. 
 
 t This city now presents little else than a deserted mass of 
 ruins, and the greatest part of its female population is believed 
 to have perished with it. 
 
'")»*'?> 
 
 ^itW*^ 
 
 i«i".-fc'- v..;*r ■ 
 
 32 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 inspired the Samians with the most unreasonable 
 confidence. " What need have we (said they, in 
 their late dispute with the Psarians) of Hydriotes, 
 or Psarians, or Spezziotes, to assist us in our 
 struggle against the Turkish empire?"" Confidence 
 is- sometimes courage ; and if mere words can ever 
 deserve a place in history, the dauntless reply of 
 the Samians may look for immortality. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Syra, December, 1823. 
 
 In my way hither from Psara, I was driven by 
 contrary winds into the admirable port of Skyros. 
 That wretched rock is also independent; and its 
 strength and its nakedness may very long preserve 
 it so. It appears, however, at present, to be a 
 kind of appendage to Psara. The Eparch is a 
 Psarian, and the two deputies which it sends to the 
 Congress are chosen by Psarian influence. It is 
 * said to contain about six hundred families, and to 
 produce, on a spot of fertile ground adjoining the 
 town, both corn and wine sufficient for their sub- 
 sistence. The inhabitants are unusually dark, but 
 extremely handsome, and, in this respect at least, 
 are not unworthy of their heroic ancestors. 
 
 Nature has not done very much more for Syra 
 than for Skyros, but circumstances have made it 
 for the moment the scene of some commercial ac- 
 tivity. The place contains nearly five thousand 
 inhabitants, who are all -f- catholics, either descend- 
 
 * I much doubt whether it contain half that number. 
 t There may perhaps be fifty persons of the Greek faith in the 
 whole island. 
 
 D 
 
WS&^H9HSI!^WtKftt&&K&H^SSSS&SSi 
 
 34 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 ants from the Venetians, or their converts, for the 
 language of the country is still Greek. Now, whe- 
 ther from the hatred which every apostate feels for 
 the faith which he has abandoned, or from inhe- 
 ritance of the rancour formerly subsisting between 
 the two churches, or from both causes united, there 
 are no bounds to the detestation in which a catholic 
 Greek holds an orthodox Greek. It is therefore 
 that the former have taken no share in the insur- 
 rection, but have ever deprecated and deprecate 
 its success. 
 
 Fortunately, these schismatics are not numerous. 
 At Tenos and Naxia, where their force is rather 
 considerable, they form at last the minority of the 
 population; so that they have not been able to pre- 
 vent the revolt of those islands, but have followed, 
 with some struggles, the stream of independence. 
 But Syra, where all is catholic, could never be 
 persuaded to hoist the national standard. The 
 Turkish government was struck with the fidelity of 
 this affectionate island, and, though it is rich and 
 defenceless, they have not yet sent out an arma- 
 ment to destroy it*; they have even deviated, in 
 
 * Syra is in fact almost as guilty as Scio, Both islands were 
 anxious to preserve their allegiance to the Porte, nor could 
 persuasion or example seduce either into rebellion. Both, at 
 last, v,- ere forced into compliance. The distinction is this : a 
 distinction, too nice, 1 fear, for the discrimination of Turkish 
 justice. The Sciots, with the aid of the Turkish garrison, might 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 35 
 
 its favour, from their usual policy, and allow to it 
 exclusively a direct trade with Constantinople. 
 Thus, all Frank vessels from Turkish ports bound 
 for the Archipelago clear out for Syra; and ma- 
 gazines are established there to receive the cargoes, 
 which are seldom any thing but corn. The har- 
 bour again is filled with small schooners, sacoleves, 
 and mystics, (chiefly Hydriote,) which distribute 
 those cargoes with very little increase Of price # , 
 wherever they may be required. The Turks have 
 made no attempt to crush this little internal Com- 
 merce, so necessary for the existence of their rebels, 
 nor indeed have they the means to crush it. It is 
 scarcely suspended even in the immediate presence 
 of the Capudan Pasha. 
 
 There are about twenty-five merchantmen un- 
 der the Austrian or Ionian flag at this moment in 
 port, and there may besides be three or four French 
 or Russians. 
 
 have repulsed the Samians, who bullied them into insurrection . 
 The Syriotes, having no Turk in their island, were absolutely at 
 the mercy of Hydra. Should this wretched warfare continue 
 much longer, we may not improbably witness the destruction 
 of Syra. 
 
 * It may be remarked as one proof of the bouleversement oc- 
 casioned by the Revolution/that the Gulfs of Napoli and Volo, 
 whence vast quantities of corn were formerly exported for Con- 
 stantinople, now receive considerable supplies of that article 
 from Alexandria or Odessa ; nor is there any thing but money to 
 offer in exchange. 
 
 D 2 
 
I ^H HHHH| HH H BHHHhhMMrBSMjmmm 
 
 36 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 Suppose not that the Greek government allowed 
 this island to reap without disturbance the rewards 
 of so profitable a neutrality. Fidelity to the Porte 
 was treachery to Greece, and the appearance of two 
 or three Hydriote brigs of war was sufficient to 
 establish the independent flag, and secure the ad- 
 mission of Grecian officers to the administration of 
 Syra. 
 
 In April last, a contribution of about fifty thousand 
 piastres, (a thousand pounds,) a sum perfectly pro- 
 portionate to those levied on the other islands, was 
 demanded of Syra. Some difficulties were raised ; 
 but the presence of a few ships, with Admiral 
 Meouli, immediately removed them. The poor 
 Syriotes complain that they are thus subject to a 
 double tribute. Legitimacy costs them some few 
 thousand piastres a year, punctually paid into the 
 treasury by an agent at Constantinople. Liberty 
 is rather more expensive ; and they pray, in their 
 desperation, that, if Providence should refuse to 
 restore them to the first of blessings, the domina- 
 tion of the Turk, it will grant them at least the 
 indulgence of French * protection. In their insen- 
 sate flight from Hellenic independence, they care not 
 how insecure the post which becomes their refuge. 
 
 Every constitutional Greek will tell you, that the 
 
 * The French claim (I know not with what justice) a right 
 of protection towards the catholic subjects of the Porte, much 
 resembling that once exercised by Russia towards the Greeks. 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 37 
 
 sale of prisoners is forbidden by the " Law of Epi- 
 daurus. ,, Every day I pass a cottage, occupied by 
 four or five Turkish slaves, so notoriously for sale, 
 that the prices of each have been communicated to 
 me. All are females, and one of them a girl of 
 great personal attractions, and a distinguished 
 Moraite family. I have seen her frequently, with 
 little compassion ; for I cannot discover in her fea- 
 tures or gestures one single trait of melancholy. 
 Gay, noisy, and obstreperous, she is either de- 
 praved or insensible*. 
 
 The neighbouring island of Tenos has severely 
 suffered by a visitation of the plague; for Turkey 
 can destroy with her pestilence, where her arms 
 have failed to penetrate. That evil has at last 
 passed away; and the quarantine system, however 
 imperfect, which is already established in the va- 
 rious parts of Greece, may go far to prevent its 
 recurrence. 
 
 This island was among the first to declare its 
 independence, and though entirely unprovided with 
 navy, or other means of defence, it has not yet 
 sustained any attack from the enemy. A few 
 months ago, while Hursref the Capudan Pasha was 
 
 * It is generally true, that the Turkish women, who have had 
 the misfortune to fall alive into the hands of the Greeks, have 
 become reconciled to their fate with extreme facility. There 
 are even instances, though rare, of those who have preferred 
 the adoption of Christian manners to a return to the land and 
 habits of Islamism. 
 
«■'.*■■ *< 
 
 38 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 I 
 
 sailing with his numerous fleet close along the coast, 
 which is accessible and unprotected by cannon, a 
 few insurgents, posted among the rocks, fired some 
 musket-shots (in insult, rather than in malice) at 
 the passing frigates. The sailors demanded per- 
 mission to land on the island and destroy it; but 
 the Capudan Pasha is believed merely to have an- 
 swered, ** They are children; leave them to their 
 amusements." 
 
 He sailed away ; and presenting himself before 
 various other islands, Naxia, Santoria, Paros, Pat- 
 mos, 8fC. f all equally guilty, and all equally de- 
 fenceless, he committed no act of violence or 
 chastisement; but accepting some nominal tribute 
 of bread or fruit, he left them in security, to rebel 
 again. 
 
 It would appear that, during the last campaign, 
 the Porte has determined to try the temporizing 
 and merciful system ; for a Turk is generally capa- 
 ble of mercy, when he believes it to form a part of 
 his policy. But the Greeks are too well acquainted 
 with the character of their enemy to be ever coaxed 
 or cajoled into submission. Nothing but brutal 
 downright force, nothing but a succession of vic- 
 tories obtained at Hydra, Psara, Napoli, Tripo- 
 h'zza, in the very centre and focus of Revolution, 
 will ever reduce to a second slavery the broken 
 remnant of the insurgents. 
 

 A VISIT TO GKEECE. 
 
 39 
 
 V. 
 
 Athens, January, 1824. 
 
 Independent Greece is distinguished by five 
 grand divisions, Eastern and Western Hellas, the 
 Islands, the Peloponnesus, and Crete. Eastern 
 Hellas, whose condition I shall now describe, will 
 be considered by some persons as the most inte- 
 resting province of Greece, inasmuch as Athens is 
 its capital; for, however deformed and lacerated, 
 however scarred with the sabre and the fire-brand, 
 however steeped in tears and in blood, Athens is 
 again a Grecian city, and again the capital of a 
 Grecian province. If I could unclose the gates of 
 futurity, and contemplate this immortal daughter 
 of antiquity, such as she may be and will be, when 
 the season of her regeneration shall be accom- 
 plished, and she shall have purged away the foul 
 impurities of slavery, — glorious, and virtuous, and 
 beautiful, as in her days of youthful splendour, — 
 how eagerly would I tear from my memory the 
 picture of what she is, and close the cold and me- 
 lancholy volume of truth. 
 
 But if our prayers have hitherto been imper- 
 fectly accorded, for the foot of destiny can seldom 
 keep pace with the impatience of human wishes, 
 

 •■•:■; tel-.V"^> 
 
 40 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 let us at least not be ungrateful for the change 
 which has already been granted to them. The 
 first great step has been accomplished : Athens was 
 under the despotism of a Turk ; she is under the 
 despotism of a Greek: she had a Mahometan, she 
 has a Christian, government: the doors of improve- 
 ment and civilization are thus thrown open, and 
 the path is broad, and easy of discovery. 
 
 This province comprehends several of the places 
 most interesting to our classical recollections. At- 
 tica, Boeotia, Doris, Phocis, Locals, with their 
 consecrated mountains and groves; and extending 
 to the north as far as the passes of Thermopylae, 
 it includes on the east the island of Eubcea. The 
 only cities which it contains of any importance are 
 Athens, Thebes, Livadia, and Salona. The two 
 principal towns of Eubcea, Negropont and Carysto, 
 are still in the possession of the Turks; and, in 
 fact, the whole of that important island still re- 
 mains under its former government. Indeed, the 
 peasants of Negropont have suffered at least as 
 much from their Hellenic liberators as from their 
 Ottoman masters. Capitan Diamanti, at the head 
 of some hundred followers, chiefly fugitives from 
 the environs of Mount Olympus, has for some time 
 lived at free quarters on the villages toward the 
 north of the island; while the motley soldiers of 
 Odysseus, in their foraging excursions along the 
 western coast, distinguish not very scrupulously 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 41 
 
 between the property of a Mussulman and a Chris- 
 tian shepherd. And it should be added, that the 
 present Pasha of Negropont, Omer, late Bey of 
 Carysto, is a man of great courage and conduct, 
 and, in some successful contests with his insur- 
 gent subjects, has never merited the charge of 
 inhumanity. 
 
 Thebes, at the beginning of the Revolution, con- 
 tained about four thousand inhabitants; it is now 
 entirely destroyed, and its fate seems attributable 
 rather to its unfortunate situation, than to any dis- 
 tinguished effort in the assertion of independence; 
 for every Turkish force, whether proceeding from 
 Albania or Thessaly, whether intended against At- 
 tica or the Morea, directed its march through that 
 ill-fated city. Omer Brioni, in his way to relieve 
 the Acropolis, in August, 1821, began the work 
 of demolition; and the little which escaped from 
 the hands of the Turk, sufficed to excite the jea- 
 lousy of the Greek inhabitants of the isthmus. 
 These sturdy mountaineers dreaded the vicinity of 
 a place still possessing, as they believed, resources 
 sufficient to invite the residence of the enemy; and 
 proceeded to destroy the innocent cause of this pos- 
 sible evil. The Thebans beheld their habitations 
 levelled by the arms of their brethren, and fled for 
 refuge to Attica or the Morea. 
 
 The country of Bceotia has not been more for- 
 tunate than its capital; exposed by its vicinity and 
 
H-!,*« '.sv>*> »i»rt* ^H -*S'.«rN* 
 
 ^H ■ li»*M*v*? .*«■:>*■. I 
 
 42 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 easy access to incursions of the Turks from Ne- 
 gropont, it has been gradually and almost entirely 
 deserted. 
 
 The fate of *Livadia may be described nearly 
 in the same words as that of Thebes; the first 
 sufferings of both were contemporaneous, and in- 
 flicted by the same hand. The streets being nar- 
 row, and the houses built principally of wood, the 
 flames which the Pasha had kindled, aided by a 
 tremendous storm, spread rapidly and effectually. 
 On his return to Albania in the autumn, he left a 
 garrison to secure the remains of the city; and this 
 was soon afterwards attacked by Odysseus, who had 
 retired during the passage of the Pasha into the 
 caves of Parnassus. The attack was destructive to 
 the garrison, but completed, at the same time, the 
 ruin of the city; and its inhabitants have generally 
 sought the same refuge which has been granted to 
 their fellow-sufferers of Boeotia. 
 
 Salona was the scene of one of the first attempts 
 made by the insurgents to introduce into their coun- 
 try some kind of government and discipline. In 
 the Autumn of 1821, while Western Greece was 
 receiving the seeds of organization from the ra- 
 tional patriotism of Maurocordato, Theodore -f- Ne- 
 
 * This city contained from ten to twelve thousand inhabit- 
 ant^ I believe, entirely Greeks. 
 
 t Mr. Blaquiere and Colonel Stanhope appear to have formed 
 different opinions respecting the character of this person. The 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 43 
 
 gris was directing a congress of the principal inha- 
 bitants of Eastern Greece, collected for the same 
 purpose at Salona. These local constitutions were 
 in general absorbed by the " Law of Epidaurus," 
 which was published a few months afterwards ; the 
 Areopagus, indeed, whose revival and moderniza- 
 tion is due to the ingenuity of the politicians of 
 Salona, continued to linger about a year longer, 
 and was not finally extinguished till the congress of 
 Astros. 
 
 The same circumstance which has proved fatal to 
 Thebes and Livadia, has led to the comparative 
 impunity of Salona, — that of situation. A little 
 removed from the direct line of the Turkish armies, 
 it has * suffered less severely, though far more emi- 
 
 former(p. 311,) speaks of "the intrigues of a wretched adven- 
 turer named Negris." The latter (p. 181,) says, "This Negris 
 is perhaps the cleverest fellow in Greece. He is a rugged 
 statesman out of place, and professes to be a republican." 
 And again, (p. 197,) " Monsieur Negris, who is the ablest man 
 in Greece, and professes wise principles of government," 8fc. 
 Theodore Negris was proceeding through the Archipelago, to 
 fill the place of Charge d'Affaires of the Turkish government at 
 Paris, when he first learnt the news of the revolt of the Greeks ; 
 he immediately changed his destination, and proceeded to Hy- 
 dra. Since that period, he has distinguished himself by his 
 restless and intriguing spirit, and is now considered (how justly 
 I know not) the most unpopular man in Greece. 
 
 * It appears that Salona was in possession of the Turks for 
 a short period at the end of October, 1822 ; but, as the greater 
 part is built of stone, it escaped material injury. In the au- 
 tumn of 1823, it was protected by Niketas. 
 
•>•*'.*( 
 
 I*j*$*tf *>"•*»** I '•».'* 
 
 44 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 nent in guilt, from the effects of that irregular jus- 
 tice, which is directed by convenience almost as 
 often as by avarice. 
 
 The country about Salona, more productive of 
 olives than * corn, has been in a continual state of 
 cultivation, and the crops last season proved very 
 productive. I have heard the population of the 
 town and district estimated at from fifteen to twenty 
 thousand souls. 
 
 Talanda, situated on a little island in the Euri- 
 pus, not very far from Thermopylae, is indebted 
 probably to its insular situation for its safety ; it 
 may contain three or four thousand inhabitants. 
 
 The passes of Thermopylae are not defended, 
 nor is any part of the country to the north of them 
 in a state of insm-rection. During the last autumn, 
 Volo, a town of some importance, situated near the 
 foot of Mount Pelion, accepted, in a moment of 
 weakness or credulity, the amnesty of the sultan. 
 The amnesty, I need not add, was immediately 
 violated ; but the Turks appear to have occupied 
 the place in such numbers, that it may prove dif- 
 
 * Salona was lately obliged, for a very timely supply of corn, 
 to the poverty of its enemy. Yussouf, Pasha of the castles of 
 the Morca, had received a large quantity of corn from European 
 merchants, for which he had given bills on his government. 
 The Sublime I'orte dishonoured his bills; the merchants be- 
 came clamorous; their outcries were increased by the mur- 
 murs of his unpaid soldiers ; and the Pasha was at last obliged 
 to sell the corn to the rebels of Salona. 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 45 
 
 ficult for the inhabitants to recover then* inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 Such then is the miserable condition of the greater 
 part of Eastern Greece ; devastated, depopulated, 
 and as open to the occupation of the enemy, as in 
 the first hour of insurrection, it possesses little other 
 protection than its own absolute misery and worth- 
 lessness. 
 
 Of Attica, I have yet said nothing ; for of At- 
 tica it is impossible to say little. Let me hope then 
 for pardon and patience, if, by a slight deviation 
 from my present plan, I trace her steps with some 
 accuracy through the crooked paths of Revolution, 
 and engage in some details which the attractiveness 
 of the subject may, perhaps, vindicate from tedi- 
 ousness. 
 
*,»■.*>* >-*>«r it'.*r»«r 
 
 46 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Athens, February, 1824. 
 
 1S21 In the month of April, 1821, about the period of 
 Easter, that ominous period, when the Patriarch 
 Gregory consecrated, by his monstrous fate, the 
 cause of his country ; nearly at this epoch in the 
 history, not of the Revolution, but of the world, 
 the * walls of Athens were scaled by the insurgents, 
 and her streets filled with the victorious shout, 
 " Xqivror dvsarn, — Christ is risen from the dead !" 
 for such was the watchword chosen to sanctify an 
 act to which patriotism was conducted by religion, 
 and which was less properly Insurrection than 
 Resurrection. 
 
 At the first sound of discord in the Morea, the 
 peasants of Attica, headed by the Cassiotes, a brave 
 and hardy, and almost gigantic race, inhabiting 
 the mountains toward Phylae, assembled in great 
 numbers in the villages at the foot of Mount Pen- 
 telicus, where they were speedily joined by a body 
 of Salaminians. The Turks confined themselves to 
 the walls of the city ; and little dreading the open 
 
 * The regular blockade of the Acropolis was not established 
 till May 7. 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 47 
 
 attack of an enemy, which had, for the most part, 1821 
 no better weapons than clubs or lances, or various 
 instruments of agriculture, they still thought it 
 prudent to take some little precaution at night. 
 For this purpose, (shall I be believed ?) they posted 
 Greeks upon various parts of the walls, with orders 
 to inform them, should the rebels approach ; while 
 themselves reposed in stupid security round the 
 fires which they had lighted within the gates. 
 These Greeks entered, of course, into immediate 
 communication with their brethren without ; and it 
 was agreed that they should signify the favourable 
 moment for assault, by changing the word given 
 them by the Turks, and vociferating in its stead, 
 " 'ExSts* xoj/jtouvrai — Come, they sleep 1" This sig- 
 nal is believed to have been very frequently re- 
 peated before it was obeyed. At last, a short time 
 before sunrise, the guards at the gates were rudely 
 awakened, and, after a very feeble defence, in 
 which twelve or fifteen men fell on each side, 
 the Turks retired to the Acropolis, whither they 
 had already withdrawn their families ; and the city 
 of Athens became once more the city of the 
 Athenians. 
 
 But the more difficult operation was still to be 
 accomplished ; the citadel, though indifferently for- 
 tified and assailable from three sides, was still 
 powerful against so resourceless an enemy. A 
 blockade, however, was immediately established, 
 
.->.>(*»%* 'rv-'tM' n*s.-w:f »«•.•*',* 
 
 48 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1S21 and the subsequent arrival in the Peiraeus of a 
 vessel from Holland, with arms, enabled the insur- 
 gents to assume a more respectable appearance. 
 They also procured one or two small pieces of 
 artillery which they planted on the hill of Philo- 
 pappas (the ancient Museum,) and occasionally 
 discharged, with singular absence of skill and effi- 
 cacy # . 
 
 * Some scenes took place during this period of the siege 
 which would be absolutely ludicrous, were they not connected 
 with so many serious feelings and considerations. I will 
 barely describe one which is most commonly related by the 
 parties in it, or the spectators. One day the Athenians having 
 received some reinforcements from the island of Zea, were 
 anxious to make a demonstration of their force for the utter 
 intimidation of the enemy ; and selecting the most natural 
 method to effect this purpose, they decided in marching in long 
 Panathenaic procession round the walls of the city. To make 
 the spectacle more imposing, they called in the husbandmen 
 from the vineyards, and for the aggrandizement of their cavalry, 
 they pressed every quadruped in Attica which was capable of sup- 
 porting the weight of man. The procession at length set out, and 
 moved on for some time in great festivity and triumph ; and the 
 Turks collected on the fortress- walls, observed the incomprehen- 
 sible scene in anxiety not unmixed with terror. At last, by the 
 malice of Fortune, the pomp took such a direction as to pre- 
 sent itself directly before the mouth of one of the guns of the 
 fortress; and the Mussulman, by a singular deviation from his 
 usual principle of warfare, chose that precise moment to discharge 
 the gun. The ball executed its errand, and carried off the head 
 ofaHydriote. Thunderstruck by so unexpected and unprece- 
 dented an occurrence, the whole procession, man and beast, 
 dispersed at the instant; and while some took refuge in the 
 

 A VISIT TO GltEECE. 
 
 49 
 
 A wall of some thickness encloses and unites to 1821 
 the citadel a considerable area, extending beneath 
 the southern wall of the Acropolis, from the 
 Odeum of Pericles to the Theatre of Bacchus, and 
 containing a well of indifferent water. This was 
 the only spring then known to exist in the fortress, 
 and the principal attention of the Greeks was 
 therefore directed to the destruction of the fortifi- 
 cation which covered it. For this purpose they 
 exerted themselves with some patience to dig a mine, 
 which they actually carried as far as the wall ; but 
 here their courage, or their perseverance, failed ; to 
 carry on the mine through, or underneath the wall, 
 was pronounced hopeless and impracticable. How- 
 ever, that their labour might not be entirely lost, 
 they determined to spring it, such as it was. In 
 the mean time, the rumour of such an intention 
 had spread terror throughout the city ; some be- 
 lieved that their houses would be overthrown as by 
 an earthquake ; others feared lest the solid rock of 
 the citadel should be torn from its foundation and 
 hurled down upon them ; and many, I have been 
 assured, for greater chance of security, sought a 
 temporary refuge in the neighbouring villages. 
 After much preparation, the train at length was 
 
 olive groves, others fled for security to the rocks and caves of 
 Hymettus. 
 
 If the Turks had taken any advantage of this panic, they 
 might have recovered temporary possession of Athens. 
 
*,>-:♦"' «.-vv.» VvPS IMmH Wj$H{ 
 
 50 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1821 lighted, and the explosion, as taking place clearly 
 without the wall, proved equally innoxious to Turk 
 and Athenian. 
 
 The Turks had taken up with them many 
 horses, and even asses, for which they soon found a 
 great want of subsistence, while they observed the 
 Greeks reaping a plentiful harvest on ground which 
 they had been ever accustomed to consider as their 
 own, and which was * still lying under the very 
 mouths of their cannon. Determined to secure to 
 themselves at least some share of its produce, they 
 made a sally in great force, and even accompanied 
 by many of their women, not armed, indeed, or 
 intended to assist in the contest, but for the pur- 
 pose of carrying up into the citadel the expected 
 booty. Tins movement was made very early in the 
 morning, and being quite unexpected, met at first 
 with no resistance ; but the Athenians soon rallied, 
 and collecting in force, attacked the foragers with 
 courage and success : they retired precipitately into 
 the citadel, leaving behind them about twenty men 
 killed, besides five women, negresses, who were 
 taken and immediately put to death. Their heads, 
 together with those of the Turks who fell in the 
 
 * In March last, I left a very promising crop of corn growing 
 between the Acropolis and the Museum, and on the sides and 
 summit of the latter hill. The open space within the north and 
 west walls of the town was also sown with wheat, and the 
 Temple of Theseus now stands in a corn-field. 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 51 
 
 action, were exposed in a public place to the curi- 1821 
 osity of the conquerors, according to the custom of 
 the East. 
 
 Not long after this success, it was ascertained 
 that Omer Brioni, Pasha of Yanina, was on his 
 march from Albania with several thousand men, 
 directed against Athens, and was already far ad- 
 vanced. What resolution were its guilty inhabi- 
 tants to adopt ! To defend the weak and extensive 
 walls of the town, while the citadel which com- 
 manded it was still in the enemy's possession, was 
 an attempt promising little hope of preservation : 
 to open their gates, to resign their arms, and aban- 
 don themselves to the clemency of the conqueror, 
 was only to take a shorter road to destruction. In 
 this frightful emergency, the spirit of their ances- 
 tors came down to protect them ; and whether it 
 was that, through acquaintance with the most 
 brilliant period of their history, they felt desirous 
 to emulate one of the actions for which it is most 
 celebrated, — or whether the same dangers suggested 
 to them the same heroic means of preservation, — 
 once more, and with * one consent, they abandoned 
 their houses, and their temples, and their tombs, 
 and sought their antique asylum in the island of 
 Salamis. 
 
 * A very small number, chiefly old men and women, re- 
 mained behind ; they were of course massacred instantaneously, 
 and their bodies left to rot in the streets. 
 
 E2 
 
■■«:■> "•*.,•*?:• :-*(ifik..-MCv* iK>W«*t *^>i *•<,'** .*r.*r«4r'V - 
 
 52 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1S21 * Omcr Bridni occupied the solitude they had 
 left him ; and the three months which he passed 
 there were employed in the devastation of the 
 country, and the destruction of a considerable por- 
 tion of the town. It is, perhaps, more fair to 
 attribute these excesses to the native Turks, who 
 had been infuriated by their blockade in the Acro- 
 polis, and by the loss of several of their compa- 
 nions, than to the foreigners who had accompanied 
 the Pacha. I have even been assured that most of 
 the Beys (which officers form, if I may so express 
 myself, the military noblesse of the Turkish em- 
 pire) behaved with great moderation, and main- 
 tained among their own troops a tolerable degree 
 of discipline. Let us, then, direct the weight of 
 our execrations on the Pasha, Omer Bridni, who 
 encouraged the soldiers in those frequent excursions 
 into the mountains and villages, which they called 
 Greek-hunts, and in which they were but too suc- 
 cessful ; who permitted the victims whom they 
 brought back with them, — aged shepherds, per- 
 haps, or Caloyers, or children, or women, to be 
 butchered in the public places, or before the very 
 doors of his own residence; and who upon one 
 occasion, at least, ordered some of those wretches 
 to be impaled, for no other existing reason than to 
 oblige the monstrous caprice of the savages who 
 had seized them. 
 
 * On the 31st of Julv. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE, 
 
 53 
 
 As long as we condescend to treat with Turkey 1821 
 as a civilized government, Ave must judge the acts 
 of her officers by the laws of civilization ; and 
 though I intend not for a moment to question her 
 right to punish her rebels, (for call them by what 
 name we will, to Turkey they are still rebels,) I 
 can find no words to express my horror at that in- 
 discriminate vengeance, that confusion of what is, 
 Avith Avhat is not guilty, of what might be, Avith 
 Avhat could not possibly be criminal ; that principle, 
 in short, (the only principle on which the Turks 
 have ever acted, if they have ever acted even on 
 that,) that eveiy Greek is ansAverable for the offence 
 of every other Greek. 
 
 Having consumed all the resources of the coun- 
 try, Omer Brioni at last retired, leaving the Acro- 
 polis well supplied with provisions, and under the 
 protection of its former defenders. These men, 
 emboldened by frequent and easy successes, ven- 
 tured to continue their Greek-hunts, after the 
 departure of their companions, but no longer with 
 the same impunity. On the 14th of November, a 
 large party thus engaged in the groves of Aca- 
 demus, and along the banks of the Cephissus, 
 perceived some peasants at a distance, whose flight 
 encouraged their pursuit ; they were advancing in 
 full cry, and had already exceeded the usual limits 
 of their excursion, Avhen they suddenly found 
 themselves in the presence of a large body of 
 
*3***»"- !w*«^* Wk. 
 
 54 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1§21 armed villagers. The order of the chase was in- 
 stantly reversed ; in the haunts of the * hare, a 
 tiger had at last been roused ; and he proved as 
 merciless in vengeance as his pursuers had been 
 found savage in aggression. About five-and-twenty 
 Turks were killed on this occasion, and the only 
 one who was taken alive was instantly impaled on 
 the spot- 
 
 The Athenians are very proud of this affair, 
 and call it the Battle of Calandri, from the name of 
 the plain where it took place -f-. 
 
 * The Islanders were in fact, before the Revolution, known 
 to the Turks by no other name than " the Hares." 
 
 t Most of the Turks who escaped from this action returned 
 to the city sans culottes; the importance derived from those 
 dignified incumbrances had not been consulted in the hurry of 
 flight, and great spoil of broad-cloth is said to have been col- 
 lected by the conquerors. 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE, 
 
 55 
 
 VII. 
 
 Athens, February, 1824. 
 
 The Athenians had already begun to look out 1821 
 from their hiding-places in Salamis ; the " battle 
 of Calandri" decided their return, and on the 16th 
 of November they re-entered without opposition 
 into possession of their shattered habitations. They 
 then commenced, without any delay, the second 
 siege of the Acropolis ; and, filled with courage by 
 the late advantage, they determined no longer to 
 confine themselves to the blockade of an enemy 
 whom it had proved so easy to overcome in the 
 field. They resolved to surprise the citadel, and 
 the night of the 24th was fixed upon for that 
 purpose. 
 
 * The ladders were applied near the south-west 
 
 * The assault was preceded, as in the days of Nioias and 
 others, by a short harangue ; so short, indeed, and so ungraced 
 with Atticism, that we should be apt to mistake it for the 
 address of some sturdy Enomotarch to his Laconian warriors. 
 The words were exactly these : B^s MavfyotrxvXia' %k i'uyupiv p\ 
 
 and they are very nearly translated thus : " You bull-dogs, you ! 
 shall we come out of this affair with a clean face or with a foul 
 
^^M &t%f*^\*&&> : *i**f&'*£ i****^*^' 
 
 56 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1S21 extremity of the exterior wall ; the Greeks mounted 
 in siience, and unobserved ; they advanced with 
 speed and caution, and had already passed the 
 Tekay, or Chapel of the Dervishes, and were 
 approaching the inner gate (3) which leads imme- 
 diately into the Acropolis, when they surprised a 
 Turkish sentinel. They seized him, and made 
 him the most solemn promises of life and recom- 
 pense (for many of them spoke Turkish), on con- 
 dition of his silence ; but whether this brave man 
 was diffident of Greek sincerity, or whether (and 
 both are probable) he preferred the death of a 
 soldier and a Mussulman to an act of cowardly and 
 impious treachery, he made no other answer to 
 their solicitations than a loud shout, Avhich an- 
 nounced to his countrymen that " the Giaours 
 were approaching !" He had no time to repeat 
 this warning, for he was already hacked in pieces 
 by the attaghans of the enemy ; but the Turks 
 were alarmed by the tumult thus excited, and 
 roused themselves just in time to close the gate and 
 save the citadel. 
 
 On the other hand, the Greeks kept possession 
 of the outworks thus obtained, which were chiefly 
 of importance as they included the space (A) con- 
 
 one?" "With a clean face, captain, with a clean face!" was 
 the enthusiastic response. 
 
 It would exceed the imagination of Phil-hellenism to extract 
 poetry or pathos from this dialogue . 
 
. 
 
 
 ■•:. 
 
'fo /at* /Mtt/r 6j 
 
 MUsITARY PLu±N 
 of tlie 
 
 Acropolis of Athens 
 
 W.C.D.The Three Jiotterks. 
 
 1 >. The Froptfla-um . 
 
 E Fountain ofJ\ut/. 
 
 1*JM . The Tour Gates. 
 
 MlXi.J'hr/ Two Mines. 
 
 ~%Jiace where Greeks mounttAJm 
 
 AyZ. Ground' gained/ by them 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 57 
 
 taining the well (b) already mentioned. Other 1821 
 attempts were soon afterwards made on the Acro- 
 polis, which, though conducted with some ingenuity 
 and a * courage not unfrequently amounting to 
 rashness, terminated without exception in the re- 
 pulse of the assailants. These affairs cost the 
 Athenians about two hundred men ; a loss not in- 
 considerable, when compared with the number of 
 their soldiers, and not equalled, I will venture to 
 say, by that sustained by any other Greeks in any 
 military operation undertaken since the commence- 
 ment of the Revolution f. 
 
 The endeavours to effect a breach were not 
 more effectual, though one or two guns were 
 brought as near to the western wall as the hill of 
 the Areopagus. One shot, the only one of which 
 the effect is at all remarkable, struck the Archi- 
 trave of the Erechtheum, but happily without 
 inflicting any material injury. 
 
 The besiegers had also recourse once more to a 
 mine, in spite of the previous failure of a similar 
 
 * Some Cephallonians, about seventy, are mentioned as 
 having distinguished themselves in these affairs ; and I have 
 been often assured, that the citizens generally displayed much 
 greater intrepidity than the peasants, probably because they had 
 more to gain by success. 
 
 t During the whole siege, they lost about three hundred men 
 in action. A number, which will form a fair comparison with 
 that of the freemen killed in some of the most celebrated vic- 
 tories of their ancestors. 
 
■.%>^*y %'K^>vt K,».>nr.:*v,-«« WHHHMHHHBbHI 
 
 58 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1S22 attempt ; and with such increase of skill w;is it 
 conducted, that it had been already carried under 
 the first battery (B) with great promise of success, 
 when its explosion was rendered unnecessary by 
 the capitulation of the Turks. 
 
 From the night in which the well was taken, to 
 the 22d of the following June, the day of their 
 capitulation, the garrison, amounting, in the first in- 
 stance, to about one thousand six hundred persons, 
 with many horses and * beasts of burden, had no other 
 supply of water than that furnished by the cisterns 
 of the citadel ; and even this, in their certain ex- 
 pectation of the usual rains, they had consumed 
 with little economy. In the mean time, the winter. 
 
 * Much is said of the humanity which Mussulmen display 
 towards animals. A singular proof of it occurred during this 
 siege. Finding them suffering from thirst, the besieged lowered 
 down a number of asses, fyc, into the hands of the enemy ; 
 choosing rather that they should live in the possession of the 
 infidel than perish miserably with themselves. It is even more 
 singular, that two of these animals were actually preserved alive 
 to the end of the siege ; their owners had probably some pri- 
 vate supply of water, which they preferred to share with their 
 beasts, rather than with their dying brethren. When the Greeks 
 first obtained possession of the town, they commenced a terrible 
 persecution of the storks, driving them from the chimney-tops 
 and old ruined columns, where they had enjoyed, under Maho- 
 metan protection, so many centuries of hereditary security. 
 The sight of this barbarity is believed to have enraged the Turks 
 even more than the destruction of their houses, and the viola- 
 tion of their mosques. 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 59 
 
 and next, the spring was passing away, and not a 1822 
 shower had yet fallen. They watched every cloud, 
 as it rose from the Egean sea, and came rolling 
 towards them ; and, as it appeared to be approach- 
 ing, they spread out their bowls and their spunges, 
 extended their shawls and their turbans, and the 
 very veils of their women, that not one precious 
 drop might be lost, while the names of Allah and 
 the Prophet were loudly and frequently invoked. 
 Not one drop ever came to them. The clouds fell 
 in abundant showers on the plains below, on the 
 olives and the vineyards, on the neighbouring vil- 
 lages, and even once or twice on the very town of 
 Athens ; but they were invariably broken by the 
 Acropolis, as if they shunned the red flag which 
 was floating there. 
 
 This is no fable ; and persons, of course, are 
 not wanting, who here discover the special * inter- 
 ference of Providence. However that may be, the 
 skies continued their partiality during a siege of 
 seven months, and the Turks, diminished in num- 
 bers, enfeebled, and disheartened, at last capitu- 
 lated. And here I must mention, to complete this 
 
 * If so, we must recollect that precisely the same interference 
 of Jupiter Capitolinus, exerted precisely in the same manner, 
 placed the same Acropolis, some two thousand years ago, in the 
 possession of Sylla " the fortunate." If the Greeks should ever 
 accomplish their intention of erecting a temple in the style of 
 antiquity, they will do well to dedicate it to Fortune. 
 
.*►.■.*:; vx*/: V a 
 
 60 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1S22 extraordinary story, that, on the third day after 
 their evacuation of the place, in the very driest and 
 most improbable season, there fell a torrent of rain 
 Avhich deluged the Acropolis. 
 
 The principal officers of the garrison were the 
 Vaivode, and, as usual, the Mufti and the Cadi ; 
 and, if some dissensions had distracted the chiefs 
 of the insurgents, it would appear that greater una- 
 nimity had not prevailed in the councils of their 
 enemy. The Mufti, it is said, in his zeal for the 
 religion of which he is the local guardian, had, in 
 the first instance, advised the entire destruction of 
 the * town, and the massacre of all the inhabitants, 
 and had even offered his fetwah to justify the act. 
 The Cadi, a native of Constantinople, exclaimed 
 violently against so horrible a proposal ; and the 
 Vaivode, a man not devoid of humanity, adopted 
 the opinions and feelings of the Cadi. This last 
 again is accused of entertaining a private corre- 
 spondence with the Greeks during the whole siege, 
 for which treacherous conduct the situation of his 
 house, forming a part of the northern wall, af- 
 forded singular facility. These dissensions, how- 
 ever, and suspicions, to whatever bitterness they 
 may have been carried within, seem not at all to 
 have influenced the military conduct of the garri- 
 
 * While the peasants were encamped at Menidi., and had yet 
 made no attempt upon the town- At that moment, such a pro- 
 posal would not have been very difficult of execution. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 Gl 
 
 son, who proposed no capitulation, till reduced to 18-22 
 insufferable distress, and deserted (as they imagined) 
 by God as well as by man. 
 
 Entirely distrustful of the faith of their late sub- 
 jects, and as if prescient of the fate which awaited 
 them, the Turks at first proposed to surrender 
 themselves to the European Consuls resident at 
 Athens, and to be confined in their houses, till 
 means should be provided for their embarkation for 
 Asia. * Three only of these gentlemen still re- 
 mained there : M. Gropius, Consul for Austria ; 
 M. Fauvel, for France ; and Signor Origoni, for 
 Holland. They pleaded, of course, their entire 
 want of force to carry into effect any capitulation 
 made to themselves ; but promised their influence 
 to secure the observance of whatever Convention 
 the besieged might think proper to conclude with 
 the Greeks. With little hopes of the efficacy of 
 such influence, but afflicted by their own misery, 
 and by the sufferings of their wives and children, 
 which they witnessed hourly, and by the loss of 
 about a third of their force which had already pe- 
 rished from want or sickness, they agreed, at last, 
 with reluctance and almost in despair, to the fol- 
 lowing Articles of Capitulation. 
 
 * Signor Logotheti, the English Consul, left the country on 
 the breaking out of the insurrection, and died at Cerigo soon 
 afterwards. 
 

 ■■■■■■ 
 
 62 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1822 
 
 " CONVENTION, 
 
 Which the undersigned, the Commissioners of the 
 Supreme Government, the Ephori of Athens and 
 the Capitani, made with the Turks besieged in the 
 Acropolis, when these last, being overpowered by 
 the warfare of the Hellenes, and reduced to the last 
 necessity, treated for a Convention. 
 
 " ARTICLES. 
 
 " 1. That the Turks give up their arms and the 
 Acropolis, and every thing contained in it, 
 without any fraud. 
 
 " 2. That the Hellenes preserve, with every possi- 
 ble attention, the life and the honour of the 
 Turks. 
 
 " 3. That every Turkish family take with it one 
 * load of clothes ; by which is meant, clothes 
 for sleeping and for change ; two kitchen 
 utensils, with their coverings ; two dishes, 
 with their coverings. 
 
 " 4. That of the silver, gold, and pearls, including 
 too their ready money, (ra. (xst^yito) and every 
 article of jewellery which was originally bona 
 fide Turkish property, ('for that which has 
 
 * io^Tufnu., i. e., as much as a beast of burden could carry. 
 I imagine that the Greeks did not allow camels to be used upon 
 this occasion, though I saw several in Athens in January and 
 February last. 
 
 For the original Treaty, see the Appendix. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. US 
 
 been plundered from the Christians is not 1S22 
 comprehended,) they retain one-half. 
 " 5. If any Turks shall wish, by their own free 
 choice, to remain at Athens, that freedom of 
 residence be granted to them ; but, for those 
 who may wish to depart to Asia, that the go- 
 vernment embark them in European vessels, 
 under whatever flag it may happen, distri- 
 buting to each family a sufficiency, for the 
 voyage, of biscuit and cheese; and paying 
 their passage. 
 
 These Articles are agreed upon between the two 
 parties unalterably and inviolably ; and so the 
 present Document is given into the hands of the 
 Turks, sealed with the public seal, and signed by 
 the following- 
 
 " Athens, June 9—21, 1822." 
 
 Having, in my possession, the names of the 
 Archbishop, of the two Commissioners of the cen- 
 tral government, of the ten Ephori, and the eleven 
 Capitani, who signed this Convention, I shall not 
 publish them. Because I am not aware, to which 
 of them, or whether to any of them individually, 
 belongs the guilt of its violation ; and I should be 
 sorry that any innocent person should be involved 
 in the infamy which must ever attend on all who 
 were concerned in this execrable transaction. 
 
 The Archbishop, indeed, a very old and re- 
 
>7^5te\*-^'le/«C^f'*'> : **'»'^**"5=*" t *'? < *ft*Qdtf>V«* , >*rt-w;'r <fc»:»->*i,'7-**r^ '>**••• 
 
 64 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1S22 spectable man, is universally exculpated ; and the 
 conduct of the commissioners, as will presently be 
 seen, was equally irreprehensible ; and, it may be 
 added, that some of the Ephori were already in 
 Salamis when the massacre was perpetrated. 
 
 As the details of crime and misery furnish, not 
 unfrequently, the most interesting portions of his- 
 tory, let us not pass over too rapidly the fate of 
 the garrison of Athens. 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 65 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Athens, February, 1824. 
 On the following day, (June 22d,) the Turks eva- 1S22 
 cuated the Acropolis. The strict execution of the 
 fourth article led, of course, to some disputes ; the 
 besieged are accused of having, in many cases, en- 
 deavoured to elude it ; nor can we doubt that such 
 attempts were met, on the other side, by a de- 
 termination to enforce it with sufficient severity ; 
 however, on this occasion, no blood was shed. 
 But the day was not allowed to pass without the 
 performance of a very savage act of retaliation. 
 On the first rumour of commotion, in the March of 
 1821, the Turks had seized nine Athenians of con- 
 sideration, and carried them up into the citadel, 
 calling them, as usual, hostages. Not many days 
 after this seizure, when the town was taken by the 
 peasants, about forty Turks fell into their hands ; 
 the Athenians treated them (I am happy, at last, 
 to have occasion for that word) with humanity ; 
 and, to secure their future safety, confided them to 
 the protection of the Consuls. In the course of the 
 first siege, after some unsuccessful skirmish, the 
 Turks sought for consolation in the execution of 
 their hostages, and dragging out from confinement 
 
 F 
 
HH |BHM|MNHpBM^MBn 
 
 6G 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1822 these innocent individuals, murdered them all. 
 The first impulse of the Greeks was to rush to the 
 Consulates, and demand the lives of those whom 
 they had so lately and so generously spared ; but 
 they were obliged, after much tumult, to yield to 
 the firmness of the Consuls, and to defer that 
 vengeance for which they never ceased to thirst. 
 The capitulation seemed to present the long- 
 expected moment, and certain among them, (the 
 relations, probably, or the friends of the mur- 
 dered,) contriving to separate from the main body, 
 and to detain in the citadel, on various pretences, 
 a number of Turks, equal to that of the hostages, 
 and having learnt from them the exact spot where 
 their brethren had been butchered, dragged them 
 to that spot, and immolated them. It must be 
 added, that this act, of what may be fairly called 
 Turkish justice, was executed after sunset, and 
 without the authority or knowledge (as is believed) 
 of any Athenian officer. 
 
 Hopes were still entertained that the terms of 
 the Convention might, for the most part, be ob- 
 served. The Consuls were making the greatest 
 exertions to procure vessels for the embarkation of 
 the prisoners, and had sent pressing messages, re- 
 questing the immediate presence of French and 
 Austrian ships of war ; and the second week after, 
 the capitulation had already passed away in tran- 
 quillity. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 G7 
 
 The Turks, in number, eleven hundred and forty, 18Sr ' 2 
 of every age and sex, were principally placed in a 
 very large mansion belonging to government : those 
 of the highest rank only were lodged in private 
 houses. Forty or fifty among them had already 
 died in consequence of their previous sufferings, 
 and a great proportion of the rest were sick and 
 debilitated. All their arms had been surrendered, 
 according to the capitulation. 
 
 Early in the third week, the honourable efforts 
 of the Consuls appeared likely to be followed by 
 success. Two large merchantmen, the one under 
 the French, and the other under the Austrian flag, 
 were hired, and in readiness. It was calculated, 
 that they were capable of containing from six to 
 seven hundred persons. Preparations were already 
 making for embarkation, and the Turks themselves 
 believed the hour of security to be indeed ap- 
 proaching ; and thus passed one or two days more. 
 
 Suddenly on Wednesday, the 10th of July, 
 (a day to be noted for repentance and shame by 
 this generation, and for eternal mourning by their 
 posterity,) a report was circulated with astonishing 
 rapidity, that the Turkish army from Thessaly had 
 passed Thermopylae, and was already at * Thebes, 
 in its way to Athens. 
 
 Whether any such report really did arrive, (and 
 
 * The distance from Thebes to Athens is one long day's 
 march. 
 
 F 2 
 
<*,«*>:»< ^..ofc^jw*,*.-; 
 
 ■■ 
 
 68 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1822 if so, it was premature,) or whether it was fabri- 
 cated by persons who foresaw, and were anxious 
 to profit by, its probable consequences, it is now 
 impossible to ascertain ; and I would that its con- 
 sequences were as obscure and as ambiguous as its 
 origin. All the soldiers, followed by a part of the 
 populace, instantly rushed to the quarters where 
 the Turks were confined, burst open the doors, 
 and commenced, without delay, the merciless mas- 
 sacre. What attempts were made by Primates or 
 Capitani to restrain this madness, I know not ; 
 I never heard of any ; and the Commissioners of 
 the Government, finding that they had no influence 
 to prevent the completion of an enormity of which 
 they resolved not to be spectators, fled from a city 
 already polluted with murder and perjury, and em- 
 barked at the Peiraeus. They addressed, however, 
 before their departure, a spirited appeal to the 
 Athenians, exhorting them, at least, to respect the 
 ancient inviolability of the Consulates. In the 
 mean time, the work was already terminated, — 
 one single hour had been sufficient, — one short hour 
 was space long enough to imbrue the name of 
 Athens with a stain so deep, that ages of patriotism 
 and virtue are required to efface it ! 
 
 And let us trust that it will be so effaced, — let us 
 trust that she will derive, from the memory of this 
 deplorable transaction, only a motive the more for 
 amelioration, and that this dark spot in her history 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 69 
 
 will hereafter be placed in contrast with so much 1822 
 glory, that it may serve only to set off her future 
 brilliancy. 
 
 About four hundred Turks were butchered on 
 the spot. Some eighty or ninety, who happened to 
 be lodged in houses adjoining the Consulates, es- 
 caped thither, with their property, and were saved. 
 Of the rest, some were preserved by individual 
 humanity, and afterwards delivered up to the pro- 
 tection of the Consuls; and others were enslaved 
 by their captors; and, though most of them were 
 afterwards ransomed, there are some who, having 
 been immediately carried away by their ravishers, 
 still, probably, remain in a state of slavery. There 
 is consolation in being able to mention, that the 
 very great proportion of the women and children 
 were spared ; though I know not exactly how far 
 such suspicious mercy acts in palliation of guilt* 
 That lust or avarice should have sometimes ar- 
 rested the arm of murder is a very ambiguous 
 compliment, — a compliment which the Athenian 
 savage must be contented to share with the savages 
 who rioted at Scio. 
 
 The same day, and under such auspices, began 
 the second flight to Salamis. Some of the Athe- 
 nians carried with them thither the Turkish cap- 
 tives who had fallen to their share in the morning's 
 delirium: their beauty failed not to excite the 
 
aa 
 
 70 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1822 jealousy of the Salaininiaus, and had the fury of 
 these islanders been vented upon the ravishers, hu- 
 manity itself would scarcely have lamented its 
 effects : it fell, as usual, upon the innocent. Ten 
 or twelve of those unhappy creatures, who had 
 escaped the Hour of Athens, were wantonly but- 
 chered at Salamis; and about twenty others ac- 
 tually fled back again to a city still reeking with 
 the blood of their countrymen, as to a place of 
 comparative security. 
 
 Let us hasten to the conclusion of this disgusting 
 history. A few days after the massacre, two 
 French ships of Avar, the Actif and the Estafette, 
 with a merchantman of the same nation, arrived in 
 the Peiraeus. There were then, in the three Con- 
 sulates, three hundred and twenty-five individuals. 
 It was determined to embark them instantly ; and 
 the French Commandant, le Chevalier de Re- 
 verseau, underto6k to secure their embarkation. 
 Conducting them to the Peiraeus in person, with a 
 very small escort, he was stopped near the gate by 
 a body of Greek soldiers, who demanded one of 
 his charge, a boy, intending, probably, to have 
 followed the accession to that demand with others 
 far less moderate. Some of the Athenian Pri- 
 mates, who formed part of the oscort. advised the 
 concession, it is said, and withdrew somewhat has- 
 tily. But the Frenchman, with that humanity for 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 71 
 
 which his nation has been occasionally distin- 1822 
 guished, and with the courage in which it has 
 never been deficient, firmly persisted in refusal; 
 till, being joined by a few more of his sailors, he 
 felt strong enough to force a passage, which, how- 
 ever, was no longer disputed. 
 
 At various periods, from July 10, 1822, to the 
 end of June, 1823, five hundred and thirty-seven 
 individuals, forming nearly half of the numbers who 
 capitulated, were embarked for Smyrna. Of this 
 number, three hundred and forty-seven were pre- 
 served in the Austrian Consulate, and four hun- 
 dred and forty-eight carried away under the French 
 flag; and these, with the exception of a very small 
 number, in French ships of war ; — and I must add, 
 that the conduct of the officers * commanding and 
 serving in these ships, is universally mentioned 
 with eulogiums, which I feel great pleasure in 
 being able to record here. 
 
 Thus terminated a transaction, of which the 
 above is intended to be a faithful representation. 
 Some arguments, however, I have frequently heard 
 advanced in palliation of its criminality, to which 
 I am bound to do justice, and which I would wil- 
 lingly imagine persuasive. 
 
 It is urged with some plausibility, that the im- 
 
 * The Arriege Corvette, Captain de Cholsy, came twice from 
 Smyrna to Athens, in the beginning of 1823, and took away 
 eighty-nine Turks. 
 
KJ(»«V«.-^*J *! H >,'*■ I w, : "i*n>«' 
 
 •.<»">».•,»*■'! ■ **V*v-|*-V*.' 
 
 72 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1S22 mediate # vicinity of the Turkish army rendered 
 the removal of the prisoners perfectly impractica- 
 ble; and that to leave them again in possession of 
 the town, was to restore to them the liberty of 
 renewing the barbarities of which they had been 
 formerly guilty, when relieved by Omer Brioni; 
 and that the Greek-hunts and impalements would 
 undoubtedly be resumed by them with a fury 
 proportionate to their, late sufferings; — that their 
 destruction was, therefore, in some degree,* an act 
 of self-defence. That some of the oldest and most 
 experienced among the Ephori, as well as many of 
 the most respectable families, were absent from 
 Athens at the moment of the massacre; their influ- 
 ence might have entirely prevented its commission. 
 That several of the people did, in fact, exert them- 
 selves for the perservation of the prisoners, and 
 with so much success, that nearly one-half are at 
 this moment actually restored to the land of their 
 fellow-Mussulmen. That in the very height of 
 their madness, the people had invariably respected 
 the Consulates, and acknowledged the sanctity of 
 the asylum protected by the flags of Europe. 
 And, lastly, that the example of massacre, though 
 unhappily followed by many of the inhabitants, 
 
 * That is, the supposed vicinity, for the Turks, in fact, did 
 not arrive in Thebes till five days afterwards. 
 
 It is in vain to urge, that similar acts are to be found in his- 
 tory, unless it can be added that history has justified such acts. 
 

 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 73 
 
 had been set by the soldiers, of whom several 1822 
 were foreign mercenaries, who had no interest in 
 the honour of Athens, nor any respect for the faith 
 of treaties, nor any principle of action except the 
 desire of plunder or revenge; and that, among 
 them, as well as Albanians, Moraites, and Cephal- 
 lonians, there were some natives of Scio. 
 
 If, indeed, the signal for murder was really 
 given by the hand of a Sciot, fresh from the scene 
 of the ruins of his country, his eyes yet moist with 
 tears of sorrow and indignation, and the last 
 shrieks of his enslaved family still ringing in his 
 ears, — we might also be tempted to suspend in 
 his favour the severity of our condemnation, and 
 to pardon the savage retaliation to which he had 
 been driven by his miseries. 
 
 But if our partiality should ever induce us to con- 
 sider this massacre as a mere ebullition of popular 
 fury, excused by circumstances, and mainly attri- 
 butable to the sanguinary lawlessness of afewforeign 
 soldiers, let vis inquire what was the conduct of the 
 Athenian Government afterwards, when the storm 
 had blown over, — what anxiety was shown by the 
 Ephori, or Capitani, to atone for excesses arising, 
 if from nothing worse, at least from their own 
 weakness. Of the prisoners who were saved, at 
 least four-fifths lost the property which had been 
 guaranteed to them by a solemn convention ; let me 
 ask whether that property, or any equivalent for it, 
 
74 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1822 was ever restored to those destitute wretches; and 
 whether the very expense of supporting them was not. 
 borne by the Consuls whose firmness had preserved 
 them ? Let me ask whether those whose life, and 
 honour, and liberty, had been secured to them by 
 the most sacred promises of the Government and 
 people of Athens, were not publicly ransomed or 
 publicly retained in slavery, under the very eyes of 
 that Government, and that, too, months after the 
 excuse of popular lawlessness had ceased to exist ? 
 And lastly, whether the very ransom was not paid 
 either by the Consuls themselves, or by the con- 
 nexions of the unhappy victims of Athenian per- 
 jury ? To enslave was as unjustifiable as to 
 murder; and the Government which had sincerely 
 disapproved of the guilt of either action, would 
 have endeavoured afterwards to repair the one which 
 was reparable. Such are my reasons for bestowing 
 condemnation almost unqualified on one of the 
 most iniquitous transactions that has disgraced 
 the Revolution *. 
 
 * The massacre of Navarino differs in its circumstances very 
 little from that of Athens, except that, being there unrestrained 
 by the presence of any European agents, it was universal. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 75 
 
 IX. 
 
 Athens ; February, 1824. 
 
 The Turkish army of Dramali Pasha did, in fact, 1822 
 arrive at Thebes on the 15th and 16th of July, 
 and immediately marched forward to the Morea, 
 whence it was not destined to return. Athens was 
 not molested ; oppressed, rather than protected, by 
 about four hundred soldiers under the nominal 
 command of a dozen Capitani, who were all at 
 variance with each other, and with the Ephori, 
 who were themselves not more unanimous than the 
 Capitani, she was left to enjoy the first-fruits of 
 liberty. Two principal parties seem to have dis- 
 puted, and alternately obtained, possession of the 
 Acropolis; one of the Ephori was assassinated, 
 others were driven into exile, and scenes of violence 
 and turbulence were daily repeated, which bring 
 strongly to our recollection the most licentious 
 periods of ancient republicanism. 
 
 Athens, however, had now made the first step in 
 the march of revolution; from slavery, she had 
 advanced to anarchy; her second movement was 
 equally natural, — a relapse from anarchy into ano- 
 
76 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 1822 ther species of slavery; and in this, at least, she 
 was fortunate, that her reign of anarchy was of 
 extremely short duration. Very early in the month 
 of September, Prince Demetrius Ypsilanti and 
 Capitan Niketas, having already saved the Morea 
 from the Turkish invasion, arrived at Athens, 
 charged with a commission from the Central Go- 
 vernment to arrange the affairs of the province, 
 and take possession of the citadel. A few clays 
 afterwards, on the 8th, Odysseus also presented 
 himself to the Athenians for the first time, and for 
 the same purpose, attended by about two hundred 
 soldiers. Odysseus had been Captain of Livadia, 
 as long as Livadia existed, and he was not unpo- 
 pular there; the scene of his subsequent exploits 
 had been confined to Bceotia, Doris, or Thessaly, 
 to the mountains and passes of Eastern Greece, 
 and he enjoyed considerable local reputation for 
 talents and military skjll. These reasons gave him 
 an interest in Attica which his competitors, Mo- 
 raites and foreigners, did not possess, and which 
 the name of the Central Government could not 
 supply ; and the Athenians, believing that they 
 had an entire right to dispose as they liked of their 
 own citadel, re-conquered by their own exertions, 
 resigned it, together with themselves and their pro- 
 perty, to the ambiguous protection of Odysseus. 
 The Government had the prudence immediately to 
 confirm their choice, and on the 6th of October, 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 77 
 
 that officer was appointed Captain-General ofis22 
 Eastern Greece. 
 
 It was a favourite maxim of the ancients, that no 
 man's happiness ought to be pronounced upon till 
 after his death ; if the moderns would extend the 
 same respect to the characters of men, or at least 
 of those men whose characters can only be divined 
 by public actions of which the real motives are 
 perceptible to few or none, they would make, I 
 think, a very wise extension of the discretion of 
 antiquity. To ascertain those actions, and the 
 real sentiments of their spectators, is alone a task 
 of sufficient difficulty. Of the present Governor 
 of Athens I shall, therefore, only say, that he pos- 
 sesses, in fact, the whole power, military and civil, 
 legislative and executive, and that he does not 
 appear greatly to abuse it. Few excesses of im- 
 portance are committed by his soldiers, though an 
 excellent police (the usual and most consoling at- 
 tendant on despotism) is maintained among the 
 
 inhabitants. The form of government as esta- 
 te 
 
 Wished by the Constitution is allowed to remain, 
 and the election of the officers by the citizens has 
 generally the appearance or reality of freedom. I 
 have heard of no oppressive extortions, and have 
 no hesitation in asserting, that if Athens had no 
 brighter destiny in view than to continue a province 
 of Odysseus, she would still have gained very ma- 
 terially by the present Revolution. 
 
;\s 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 Andritzes, father of Odysseus, was a Thessalian, 
 born near Thermopylae; but after the affair of 
 Lambro, in which he was implicated, he resided 
 generally at Yanina, though he died at Constanti- 
 nople. The son happened to be born at Ithaca, 
 and to that circumstance is indebted for his he- 
 roic name ; the Ithakesians, as if prescient of his 
 future celebrity, determined to note him for their 
 compatriot ; and may he never give them occasion 
 to disown him. He was removed at a very early age 
 to Yanina, and received his education in the service 
 of Ali Pasha, a school where it was easy to become 
 instructed in every imaginable vice. Distinguished 
 by the gracefulness of his person, and his skill in 
 manly exercises, he was first introduced to the 
 notice of his master by his extreme agility ; and 
 from his earliest recorded exploit, we should rather 
 infer his descent from the Thessalian Achilles, than 
 his birth among the pastureless rocks of Ithaca. 
 It was this : he challenged the finest horse of Ali 
 Pasha to a trial of speed and wind ; the race was 
 to be performed on rising ground, and the man was 
 to keep pace with the beast till the latter should 
 fall down dead. In case of failure, he was to forfeit 
 his head to the indignation of his noble competitor. 
 The Pasha accepted the challenge for his horse, as 
 well as the condition proposed by the challenger, 
 the execution of which he prepared to exact with 
 great fidelity. The animals ran in his presence, — 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 79 
 
 the biped was triumphant, and became from that 
 moment the distinguished favourite of the master, 
 who was equally the master of both. His talents 
 and address enabled him to maintain a situation to 
 which they certainly had not assisted in raising 
 him ; and he rendered some important services, 
 which AH rewarded by presenting him with a 
 bride from his own harem. The value of a gift, 
 under any circumstances flattering and honourable, 
 was enhanced by the extreme beauty of the lady ; 
 and that nothing might be wanting to the happi- 
 ness of his favourite, the Pasha accompanied his 
 present by a circular order to all the more opulent 
 householders of his Pashalik, to pay to the bearer 
 the sum of one sequin each. A dowry raised by 
 the contributions of a province coidd not fail to be 
 considerable ; and the son of Andritzes became 
 generally known and envied throughout the moun- 
 tains of Roumelia. 
 
 His usual station, before the rebellion of AH 
 Pasha, was in the Passes and at the Derveni, in the 
 neighbourhood of Livadia. At the siege of Ya- 
 nina, in September, 1820, he shut himself up with 
 his master till the desertion or secession of the 
 Greeks in the spring following ; he then retired to 
 his native island, where he resided till the begin- 
 ning of the Revolution. He was among the first 
 who obeyed the call of his country, and he re- 
 occupied without delay his favourite haunts among 
 
 lUHIi 
 
80 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 
 the * caves of Parnassus and Helicon. In that 
 position he harassed the Turkish armies, cut off 
 their supplies, and impeded their advance into the 
 Morea. From the caves of Parnassus, he was 
 called to the possession of the Acropolis, and the 
 command of Eastern Greece. Thus, then, from 
 having run a race with a horse on a hill-side, is he 
 become the adversary of the Grand Signor, and 
 one of the most active competitors in the Stadium 
 of Grecian independence. 
 
 Odysseus is in no respect distinguished from his 
 meanest soldier, otherwise than by the symmetry of 
 his form, and the expressive animation of a coun- 
 tenance which, though handsome, is far from pre- 
 possessing; for an habitual frown, and a keen and 
 restless eye, betoken cruelty, suspiciousness, and 
 inconstancy; and those who have derived their 
 opinion of his character from the observation of his 
 exterior, and the rumour of his most notorious 
 actions, pronounce him to be violent, avaricious, 
 vindictive, distrustful, inexorable. Those, on the 
 other hand, who believe themselves to have pene- 
 trated more deeply into his feelings and principles, 
 consider him to be under the exclusive guidance of 
 
 * There is a very large Cave in Parnassus, said to be capable 
 of containing many hundred persons, which Odysseus generally 
 inhabits, and prefers as a residence to the Acropolis and its 
 temples. He has lately fortified and provisioned it with great 
 care, and has even removed his familv thither. 
 
A VISIT TO GHEECE 
 
 81 
 
 policy and interest. His passions, (they say) how- 
 ever habitually impetuous, will never betray him 
 into any measure of great imprudence, while his 
 flexibility will ever allow him to change with every 
 change of circumstance; his violence and cruelty 
 will seldom be wanton or excessive, while he pos- 
 sesses the power of assuming what virtues he 
 pleases, and when he pleases ; so that he is equally 
 capable, for the accomplishment of his purpose, 
 of a very good or a very wicked action. Nor is it 
 doubted that he possesses talents to discern, and 
 firmness to pursue, that interest which alone he is 
 imagined to pursue. 
 
 For his religion he is known not to profess any 
 ardent affection ; the name of liberty he can hardly 
 have learned to venerate at the court of Yanina ; for 
 his country, for ancient heroic Greece, he is the 
 last person to feel or affect enthusiasm; but his 
 profound knowledge of the character and govern- 
 ment of the Turks, his acquaintance with the real 
 terrors of their hostility, and the real value of their 
 friendship, has inspired him with that contempt for 
 the one, and that diffidence in the other, which 
 would probably prevent him, even in the absence 
 of all better motives, from any treachery to the 
 cause of which he is become one of the most emi- 
 nent supporters. I feel the rather bound to ex- 
 press this opinion, because I know that his fidelity 
 
 G 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 is not wholly unsuspected by foreigners, and even 
 by a party of his own countrymen *. 
 
 The expeditions into Negropont, or the adjoin- 
 
 * I am not at all surprised to observe that this same person is 
 described by Colonel Stanhope as having " a good heart" &c. 
 as being " for constitutional rights," and as having " sympathize J 
 with the people and taken the liberal course in politics," 8fc. 8fc, 
 and I sincerely wish that the praises lavished upon him by that 
 distinguished Phil-hellene may encourage him to endeavour 
 to merit them. The fact, of course, is, that Odysseus, to 
 gain any end, will profess any principles ; and as the Colonel 
 was believed to be the dispenser of the good things collected at 
 Missolonghi, and to possess influence in the future distribution 
 of the loan, he was obviously a person to be gained. Behold, 
 then, the robber Odysseus, the descendant from a race of 
 robbers, the favourite pupil of Ali Pasha, the soldier whose 
 only law through life had been his sword, — suddenly trans- 
 formed into a benevolent, liberal, philanthropic republican ! 
 It is true, indeed, that in 1821 Odysseus signed his name to a 
 Constitution, dictated at Salona by Theodore Negris, in whicli 
 there is one article expressly specifying a wish for a foreign 
 constitutional monarch; but circumstances, I suppose, and prin- 
 ciples, are now changed. However, it is not at last impossible 
 that Odysseus may be sincere in his desire that Greece should 
 be left to govern herself. The little kingdom of Eastern Hellas 
 suits him very well ; and in the probable anarchy of the 
 " Hellenic Republic," he may forsee the means of securing 
 that independence which, in fact, he possesses at present. 1 
 have very lately learnt that the Central Government, probably 
 dreading some such intention on his part, are now elevating 
 Gourra in opposition to his master. Their hopes, indeed, of 
 establishing any degree of legal authority in that province rest 
 a good deal on the disunion of those two chiefs. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 83 
 
 ing provinces, are usually conducted by Odysseus 
 in person, who, on every occasion of his absence, 
 intrusts the protection of Athens to his favourite 
 officer, Capitan Gourra ; a brave, rough, faithful, 
 unlettered, uncivilized gladiator, whose fame could 
 never have found a place in any history, had not 
 Fortune, with more than usual contempt of human 
 vanity, mingled his barbarous name with the re- 
 viving destinies of the city of Pericles. It is for 
 this reason that the savage exploit which first 
 raised him to distinction must not be passed over 
 in silence. 
 
 A Turkish officer of some consequence, residing 
 at Athens, had incurred the enmity of Ali Pasha, 
 who consulted Odysseus as to the means of pro- 
 curing his destruction ; the latter selected Gourra, 
 one of the most daring and hardiest of his sol- 
 diers, to be the instrument of assassination. To 
 avoid suspicion, Gourra was first despatched to 
 Patras, where he had not long waited when an 
 opportunity presented itself of travelling to Athens 
 in the company of a merchant, unknown and un- 
 questioned. He speedily became acquainted with 
 the person of his victim, but the number and assi- 
 duity of the guards rendered it very difficult to 
 execute his commission with impunity. At last, 
 one dark evening, the Turk returned to his house 
 slightly attended, and entered his gate the last of 
 the party ; and Gourra availed himself with cou- 
 
 G 2 
 
84 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 rage and address of the opportunity which he had 
 watched with the most vigilant perseverance. He 
 was not so fortunate in escaping suspicion as in 
 accomplishing murder; he was presently seized 
 and examined, and the discovery that one of his 
 pistols had been recently discharged was sufficient 
 for his condemnation. His liberation was, how- 
 ever, subsequently obtained by the interference of 
 Ali Pasha, and he returned to his master with 
 pride and honour, a distinguished and successful 
 assassin. 
 
 And it is here worth remarking, that the cele- 
 brated Halet Effendi, the late all-powerful favou- 
 rite of Sultan Machmoud, merited the love and 
 familiarity of his sovereign by an act very nearly 
 resembling that which placed the earliest laurels on 
 the brow of Gourra. 
 
 The appointment of Odysseus to the Government 
 of Athens caused the immediate cessation of all 
 intestine dissensions; but the Turks still occupied 
 the country between Parnassus and QEta, in some 
 force, and had even advanced to the immediate 
 vicinity of Salona. Early in November, the Cap- 
 tain-General marched out against them with about 
 one thousand men; and though the skirmishes 
 which followed were much to his disadvantage, he- 
 succeeded in concluding an armistice with the 
 Pasha, by which the latter obliged himself to eva- 
 cuate the country, and retire with his whole army 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 85 
 
 to the north of Thermopylae. The passes were 1823 
 left in the possession of the Greeks, who thus 
 reaped, by the address of their general, on the field 
 of misfortune and discomfiture, the most ample 
 harvest of victory *. 
 
 The passes seem to have been subsequently de- 
 serted or feebly defended, for in the beginning of the 
 following June, (1823) ten or twelve thousand men, 
 forming the army of Yussuf Pasha Bercofzali, 
 marched down with little resistance from Zeitun 
 into the plains of Boeotia, ravaging whatever had 
 been spared by the rapacity of preceding invaders. 
 On their approach, the Athenians performed, about 
 the end of the same month, their third emigration 
 to Salamis. On this occasion, however, the se- 
 cession was not quite universal ; from observation 
 of the stupidity and impotence of their enemy, 
 they had collected an increase of courage ; and 
 about twelve hundred young men remained in the 
 
 * The unfortunate difference between Odysseus and Mauro- 
 cordato, is carried, I fear, to animosity by both parties. What- 
 ever was the misconduct in whicli it originated, (and neither 
 party is free from the charge of misconduct,) its continuation is 
 highly injurious to the cause in which both are sincerely united, 
 and singularly disgraceful to persons who are so united in 
 such a cause. It was hoped that, with the aid of Colonel Stan- 
 hope, the mediation of Lord Byron might have accomplished 
 their reconciliation; and the sad disappointment of that hope 
 adds one to the many causes of sorrow which are inflicted upon 
 Greece by his death. 
 
A VISIT TO OREECE. 
 
 1823 town, resolved to attempt its defence. Odysseus 
 had already marched with five or six hundred 
 soldiers to harass the rear and flanks of the enemy, 
 and the defence of the Acropolis was intrusted to 
 Capitan Gourra. 
 
 On the 20th of June, the Pasha attacked a few 
 Greeks who had entrenched themselves at Troidon, 
 on the road of Rachova and Delphi, near the 
 monument of Laius and the Han of Zimeno. He 
 was received with great resolution and repulsed ; 
 but he afterwards turned their position, burnt part 
 of Rachova, Delphi, and Chryssis, and penetrated 
 to Distomo and the convent of St. Luke. When 
 he afterwards retired to the plains, the Greeks 
 were astonished to perceive that the convent was 
 uninjured, and its contents untouched ; nor was 
 their wonder, perhaps, much diminished, when 
 they discovered over the principal gate, an inscrip- 
 tion to this purport : — ** The Albanians in the 
 Mussulman army have prevented the Turks from 
 destroying this convent, because they hold it sa- 
 cred, and have frequently used it as an asylum." 
 This anecdote adds one to the numerous proofs of 
 disunion constantly subsisting between Turks and 
 Albanians, to which cause, perhaps, more than any 
 other, the Greeks will be obliged for their eventual 
 eniancipatiori ironi botii '. nor is it uninteresting 
 or uninstructive to observe, that the barbarities 
 of uncivilized warfare are occasionally mitigated 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 87 
 
 by whatsoever sentiments of * religion and gra- 1883 
 titude. 
 
 Instead of proceeding, as was intended, with his 
 whole army against Athens, Bercofzali was obliged, 
 by some movements among the Agraphiotes, to con- 
 centrate his forces above the plains of Orchomenos 
 and the Boeotian Cephissus. In this position, his 
 supplies were interrupted by the skirmishes of 
 Odysseus and the native mountaineers, whose 
 patriotism was, on more than one occasion, very 
 substantially -f* rewarded. A few troops only ad- 
 vanced into Attica, and some cavalry even reached 
 the Peiraeus, but their visit was of short duration ; 
 and their retreat, which took place in October, was 
 
 * The respect here shown by these wild mountaineers, was to 
 a religion which not only was not their own, but against which 
 they were actually waging war. There is, at least, great incon- 
 sistency in Mahometan feelings as directed to the religion and 
 the persons of Christians. There is much disposition to 
 respect the former, mingled with much contempt for the latter. 
 The name, the doctrines, the birth-place of Christ, are objects 
 of veneration ; his followers are detested, — more, because they 
 do not believe in Mahomet, than because they do believe in 
 Christ. 
 
 t At the sight of the booty made by some of the more ad- 
 venturous inhabitants of Coundourra, the whole population of 
 the village took up arms, and formed an ambuscade ; they soon 
 surprised and killed some twenty Turkish horsemen, and ob- 
 tained possession of their ample convoy of red slippers , coffee, 
 rice, butter, and tobacco. 
 
88 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 J823 not attended by the usual scenes of wanton *devas- 
 tation. Early in November, Odysseus returned to 
 his capital, and immediately commenced offensive 
 operations against Negropont ; and the fugitive 
 Athenians re-occupied for the third time the rem- 
 nants of their wretched habitations. 
 
 * In some correspondence between Odysseus and Bercofzali, 
 the Turk proved his progress in policy and humanity, by ex- 
 pressing his strong conviction of the utility of sparing " the poor 
 orphan." 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 89 
 
 X. 
 
 Athens, February, 1834. 
 
 The modern town of Athens was never remarkable 
 for beauty or regularity of construction: it has 
 now suffered the demolition of about one-third of 
 its buildings. Many Turkish houses were burnt 
 by the Greeks, in the first siege of the citadel : 
 many Greek houses were ruined during the occu- 
 pation of the place by Omer Brioni ; and many of 
 both have fallen into the streets from mere humi- 
 dity and neglect. The churches and mosques have 
 not met with greater mercy in this religious war; 
 and even the ashes of the dead have not been al- 
 lowed to repose in security. The spacious Turkish 
 burial-ground at the foot of the Areopagus, for- 
 merly solemn and sacred, and now scattered over 
 with the fragments of its monuments, and pro- 
 faned by the insults of the conqueror, attests the 
 fury of a revenge not to be satiated by blood. 
 
 That part of the town which lay immediately 
 under the northern or Pelasgic wall of the citadel, 
 where the house of poor Lusieri will be recollected 
 as very distinguished, has naturally suffered the 
 most severely. It is the intention of Odysseus not 
 
90 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 to permit its restoration ; because the existence of 
 buildings so near to this most accessible side of the 
 Acropolis would facilitate the approaches of an 
 enemy. To HLsXcivyiKov aoyov a'/u.Eivov was the re- 
 sponse of the Pythian Apollo ; we shall not, 
 however, readily suspect our philosophical modern 
 of being under the guidance of any oracles of any 
 divinities, however familiar he be with holy 
 Parnassus and the caverns of prophetic Delphi. 
 
 The Greeks had scarcely obtained possession of 
 the Acropolis, before they made two discoveries, 
 which could never have been predestined to any 
 Mussulman. The one was a small subterraneous 
 chapel, underneath (or nearly so) the right wing of 
 the Propylaeum, and which appeared to have been 
 long filled with rubbish; the other was the cele- 
 brated fountain of Pan, rising so near the north- 
 west corner of the citadel that it was immediately 
 enclosed by a new bastion ; and being now com- 
 prehended within the walls, renders their defenders 
 nearly indifferent to the caprices of the wind and 
 clouds. The Egs^9r,is- haXaaaa, or spring, for- 
 merly contained in the Erectheum, has not yet 
 been discovered, nor can the exact spot for exca- 
 vation with any certainty be pointed out. I be- 
 lieve, however, that there is not a soldier in the 
 garrison who is not aware of its ancient existence; 
 and it will probably be restored ere long to the 
 exertions of an inquisitive and progressive people. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 91 
 
 In the midst of so many circumstances of de- 
 vastation, I am deeply consoled to be enabled to 
 add, that very trifling injury has been sustained by 
 the remains of antiquity. The Parthenon, as the 
 noblest, has also been the severest sufferer ; for 
 the lantern of Demosthenes, which had been much 
 defaced by the conflagation of the convent, of 
 which it formed a part, has already received some 
 repairs from the care of the French Vice-Consul. 
 Any damage of the Parthenon is irreparable. It 
 appears that the Turks, having expended all their 
 balls, broke down the south-west end of the wall 
 of the cella in search of lead, and boast to have 
 been amply rewarded for their barbarous labour. 
 But this is the extent of the damage. No column 
 has been overthrown, nor any of the sculptures 
 displaced or disfigured. I believe all the monu- 
 ments, except these two, to have escaped unvio- 
 lated by the hand of war ; but almost at the mo- 
 ment of the commencement of the Revolution, the 
 temple of Theseus was touched by a flash of pro- 
 pitious lightning, so little injurious to the build- 
 ing, that we might be tempted to consider it an 
 omen of honour and victory. 
 
 The present miseries of the Athenians are ex- 
 ceeded only by those of the Sciots and others, who 
 have suffered absolute slavery or expatriation ; for, 
 amid such aggravations of living wretchedness, we 
 have not a tear to waste on those who have 
 
92 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 perished. Three times has that unhappy people 
 emigrated almost in a body, and sought refuge 
 from the sabre among the houseless rocks of Sa- 
 lamis. Upon these occasions, I am assured, that 
 many have dwelt in caverns, and many in misera- 
 ble huts, constructed on the mountain sides by 
 their own feeble hands. Many have perished, too, 
 from exposure to an intemperate climate ; many 
 from diseases contracted through the loathsome- 
 ness of their habitations ; many from hunger and 
 misery. 
 
 On the retreat of the Turks, the survivors re- 
 turned to their country. But to what a country 
 did they return ! To a land of desolation and fa- 
 mine ; and, in fact, on the first re-occupation of 
 Attica, after the departure of Omer Bridni, several 
 persons are known to have subsisted for some time 
 on grass, till a supply of corn reached the Peirseus 
 from Syra or Hydra. 
 
 By a singular change of national character, mo- 
 dern Athens is, of all the cities of Greece, the least 
 maritime. In fact, she does not possess one single 
 vessel of any size or description, — not one Athenian 
 sailor exists to pay homage at the tomb of The- 
 mistocles. The commerce of Attica is, therefore, 
 entirely in the hands of foreigners, and the natives 
 have no means of supplying even their own wants 
 and necessities. It is possible that this cause may 
 have contributed to augment their sufferings. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 93 
 
 During the latter end of 1821, a violent epi- 
 demic fever made great ravages in many parts of 
 Greece, and not least so in Attica. It made its 
 first appearance at Tripolizza very soon after the 
 massacre, and amply avenged the fate of those 
 whose unburied corpses had been left to rot in 
 every street. But Attica had then merited no 
 such chastisement, — she was yet free from guilt, 
 and conspicuous only for wretchedness. 
 
 Still it must be mentioned that this province, as 
 well as every other, has some reasons to be obliged 
 to the stupid perversity of the enemy. Shall I be 
 believed when I mention, that the Turks never 
 begin their annual invasions, until after the inha- 
 bitants have collected their corn in security ? and 
 that they always retire before the olive harvest 
 commences ? as if their object were, in fact, to 
 inflict the least imaginable injury on their rebels. 
 But this unintentional indulgence has been the less 
 advantageous to Attica, because she does not pro- 
 duce nearly corn enough for her own sustenance, 
 and because the olives have proved, for the last 
 three years, unusually unproductive. 
 
 In my daily rides among the mountains and 
 villages, (by which, though unarmed and alone, I 
 risk little under the vigorous government of Odys- 
 seus,) I observe little else than distress and po- 
 verty. The villages are half-burnt and half-de- 
 serted; the peasants civil, but suspicious; the 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 convents abandoned or defaced, and their large 
 massive gates shattered with musket-balls ; while 
 human bones may sometimes be discovered bleach- 
 ing in the melancholy solitude. In the mean time, 
 there is no appearance of depression or indolence. 
 A great portion of the ground is cultivated, and crops 
 are sown, in the uncertainty who may reap them 
 " for the immortal gods : v the olives too, and the 
 vineyards, are receiving almost the same labour 
 which would be bestowed upon them in a time of 
 profound peace. 
 
 In the city, the Bazar exhibits a scene of some 
 animation; and, owing to the great influx of 
 refugees from Thebes and Livadia, some of whom 
 have even preserved a part of their property, there 
 is here no appearance of depopulation. There is even 
 occasionally some inclination to gaiety ; genuine, 
 native hilarity will sometimes have its course in spite 
 of circumstances, and the maids of Athens will dance 
 their Romaic in the very face of misery. But it 
 will scarcely be credited, that the celebration of 
 the Carnival is at this instant proceeding with 
 great uproar and festivity. Drunken buffoons, 
 harlequins, and painted jesters, are riotously pa- 
 rading the streets, while GourraVysulky . * Alba- 
 nians sit frowning at the fortress-gate, and the 
 
 * Nearly half of the soldiers of Odysseus are foreigners, and 
 chiefly Albanians. These are in appearance more barbarous, 
 and in manners far less civilized, than the native Greeks. 
 
A VTSTT TO GREECE. 
 
 95 
 
 Turks and the plague are preparing to rush down 
 from Negropont and Carysto. 
 
 It is true, however, that this delirium is by no 
 means universal. Very many of the inhabitants 
 are far too deeply sunk in wretchedness to respond 
 to any voice of mirth. The pale and trembling 
 figures of women, who stand like spectres by the 
 walls of their falling habitations ; the half-naked 
 and starving infants, who shiver at their breasts ; 
 the faces of beauty, tinged with deepest melan- 
 choly, which timidly present themselves at the 
 doors and windows of their prisons rather than then- 
 houses — objects such as these are so numerous, 
 and so productive of painful sympathy, as to leave 
 us little pleasure in the contemplation of the pro- 
 gress of revolution ; and Athens, however erect in 
 her pride of independence, affords a very mournful 
 and afflicting spectacle. 
 
 London, November, 1824. 
 
 In several parts of Greece, but at Athens most 
 particularly, I had continual occasion to regret, 
 that the large. rfiiims subscribed in Europe for the 
 benefit of the Greeks had been applied to political 
 rather than to charitable purposes, — that the mo- 
 ney, which has been wasted in premature and ill- 
 directed efforts to instruct and civilize, had not 
 
96 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 rather been employed in the relief of the many 
 innocent sufferers in this barbarous contest. I had 
 then some hopes, that a simple statement, which I 
 might hereafter make of the number and condition 
 of the most miserable, by touching the mere com- 
 passion of my countrymen, would induce them to 
 extend even to Greeks that charity which they 
 have not withheld from Turks and from Arabs. 
 But I have no longer any such hopes: I observe 
 in every quarter such a lifeless indifference to the 
 very cause and name of Greece and Greeks, that I 
 will make no attempt to revive a sympathy which 
 appears to be extinct for ever. 
 
 I made arrangements, that lists of the most indi- 
 gent families, whether Athenians, or expatriated 
 Sciots, Aivaliotes, Thebans, Livadians, fyc. fyc, 
 who are scattered about the islands homeless and 
 destitute, should be made out by the archbishops 
 or bishops at their several places of residence, and 
 sent to me. As they were not completed when I 
 left Athens, Mods. # Gropius kindly undertook the 
 
 * Colonel Stanhope, (p. 18G,) on the authority of Theodore 
 Negri s, represents M. Cropius as an agent of the Holy Alliance. 
 That an Austrian Consul should continue to discharge his du- 
 ties to the Austrian Government, rather than forfeit his Con- 
 sulship, is not more singular than that a British officer should 
 obey an order to return to his country, rather than lose his 
 commission, i require some new lights from Phil-hellenism to 
 enable me to comprehend how the revolt of the Greeks can 
 have absolved M. Gropius from the duty of corresponding with 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 9*; 
 
 office of procuring them, and lie has very lately 
 forwarded them to me here. M. Gropius, in 
 the prosecution of our project, appears to have 
 encountered the usual suspicions and jealousies, 
 and combated all those little difficulties which 
 Greeks for ever oppose to intended benefits. 
 '* Vous, Monsieur, (says he,) vous etiez Anglois, 
 sans etre Phil-hellene declare, — moi, j'etois Consul, 
 et, ce qui pis est, Consul d'Autriche ! Pour 
 vaincre une si extreme prudence, il falloit montrer 
 de Tindifference, et ne la combattre qu'avec les 
 amies du ridicule; Ce moyen me reussit, et je 
 vins enfin & bout de persuader ces Messieurs 
 qu'il n'y avoit point de serpent de cache sous 
 rherbe, 1 ' 8fC. 
 
 The papers which have reached me contain very 
 detailed lists of those reduced to want and misery 
 by the war *, who are resident at Athens, Salamis, 
 Egina, Syra, Miconi, and Tenos ; for in these 
 places the refugees are most numerous and most de- 
 stitute. Many others have fled to the Morea ; but 
 the Morea is capable of supporting a much larger 
 
 his ambassador. If, however, M. Negris intends to say, that 
 M. Gropius was ever commissioned to make any formal propo- 
 sition from the Holy Alliance to the Greek Government, I will 
 undertake to assert, that he is entirely misinformed. The ob- 
 ject of his visit to Smyrna, (as M. Negris well knew,) was con- 
 nected with the liberation of those unhappy prisoners whom he 
 had rescued from the sword of the Athenians. 
 
 * T«y h Trivia km xararrfioffi tiigifKOfiivuv \% airia; rou -TfoX'tfiou. 
 
 II 
 

 98 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 than its present population. They bear the signa- 
 tures of the heads of the church at those places. 
 
 I will give, as briefly as possible, the contents of 
 each of those lists ; for they express much more 
 accurately and powerfully than any effort of elo- 
 quence, the extent of misery which has been in- 
 flicted on that unhappy country. 
 
 The number of sufferers, resident in Athens, is 
 3783, of whom 2628 are natives of Attica ; the 
 rest are refugees. Of this number, 433 only are 
 men ; so that there exist in that city, 3350 women 
 and children in a condition not far removed from 
 absolute want. Its entire population, according to 
 the most probable estimate, is about 13,000. 
 
 The list from Salamis is far more afflicting. 
 That rock contains 11, 477 souls, whom the circum- 
 stances of the war have reduced to misery ; and, of 
 these, 192 only are natives. The greater part are 
 refugees from Bceotia ; 1369 from the city, and 
 7460 from the country, of Thebes, of whom very 
 nearly four-fifths are women and children, are ex- 
 isting on an island, of which the native population 
 scarcely exceeds 3000. Of the rest, 2314 are Li- 
 vadians, and some few are from Negropont and 
 Aivali. Let us remember, that during the period 
 of the annual Turkish invasions, nearly the whole 
 population of Attica is added to this list, and that 
 Salamis is a small, rocky, and barren islet, alike 
 unprovided with habitation or sustenance for this 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 99 
 
 helpless multitude, — may we not imagine and de- 
 plore the scenes which are there exhibited, and 
 sigh over the fate of an island, the favourite of our 
 historical recollections, which has resumed its 
 ancient name only to become the sepulchre of 
 Greece. 
 
 The neighbouring isle of Egina contains 1 1 92 
 refugees from Scio, Aivali, and Livadea, of whom 
 about a fifth are men ; — Miconi, 624, chiefly Sciots 
 and Mosconesians. In Syra, there are 741, fifteen 
 of whom are Cretans. During my visit to that 
 island, I had frequent personal opportunities o* 
 observing the extreme wretchedness in which they 
 existed. The list from Tenos is more considera- 
 ble; 3034 is the number of strangers harboured 
 there, amounting perhaps to a fourth part of the 
 whole population. 
 
 It appears then, that these six places, into whose 
 condition I have inquired, alone contain 20,851 
 persons reduced to extreme distress by the circum- 
 stances of the Revolution ; — that the very great 
 majority of these are homeless refugees, who have 
 sustained the loss of their entire property ; — and 
 that about four-fifths of the whole number are 
 women and children. 
 
 To this statement, I have not one word to add, 
 for words are very powerless to excite compassion, 
 where such facts shall fail to move it. But, if any 
 additional calamities were required to complete the 
 
 H2 
 
100 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 mournful picture, I might mention, that they have 
 appeared in frightful succession. Since the com- 
 pletion of the melancholy lists which I publish, 
 the plague has descended into Attica with its usual 
 circumstances of destruction : the fury of the Ja- 
 nissaries more recently arrived in Negropont lias 
 driven forth nearly the whole population of an 
 island almost innocent of revolt ; and the capture 
 of Psara by the Capudan Pasha has expatriated all 
 who survived the ruins of their country. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 101 
 
 XI. 
 
 Hydra, March, 1824. 
 
 On a rock, so utterly barren and hopeless of vege- 
 tation, that even in this, the season of greenness, 
 I can scarcely discover, on its whole surface, one 
 speck of verdure, rises in dazzling whiteness and 
 beauty this singularly-interesting city. " What 
 a place you have chosen, — (I addressed myself to 
 Tombazi, late Admiral of the Greek fleet,) — What 
 a spot you have chosen for your country !*" " It was 
 Liberty that chose the spot, not we, 1 ' was the pa- 
 triot's instant reply ; and long may Liberty pre- 
 serve and protect a habitation so worthy of her. 
 
 The harbour, from the abrupt sides and bottom 
 of which the town starts up theatrically, is neither 
 spacious nor secure. It is, in fact, a deep bay, 
 situated on the western side of the island, and 
 still open to the west, having no nearer protection 
 from that quarter than the opposite coast of the 
 Morea, which may be four or five miles distant. 
 Against an enemy, the entrance is secured by two 
 or three well-constructed batteries, which are now 
 in extremely good condition : but the guns mounted 
 
102 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 there are neither formidable in number or calibre ; 
 and there is neither chain or boom to prevent the 
 introduction of fire-ships by any enemy sufficiently 
 enterprising to employ them. The Hydriotes are 
 themselves as fully sensible of their deficiencies as 
 any of their European advisers ; but they continue 
 to excuse their improvidence by their increasing 
 contempt for the stupidity of an enemy whom they 
 suppose immutable. 
 
 There are besides two other ports on the same 
 side of the island, at a short distance ; the one on 
 the north, the other on the south of the city, in 
 which most of the ships of Avar are laid up during 
 the winter, and to many of the rest very secure 
 anchorage is afforded by the neighbouring and de- 
 pendent island of Poros. All these three ports are, 
 I am assured, superior to that on which the city 
 stands ; at any rate, they very amply supply its 
 imperfections. 
 
 The city, like the opulence which has created it, 
 has sprung up during the last thirty years, and 
 climbs, with great boldness and splendour, from 
 the water's edge up to the very summits of the 
 surrounding rocks. It is built of stone, and the 
 taste which has constructed many of the principal 
 houses would not disgrace the best parts in any 
 metropolis ; and, it may be added, that some of 
 them are furnished with great costliness and ele- 
 gance. The streets are narrow and irregular, 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 103 
 
 partly from the nature of the ground, and partly, 
 of course, from orientalism. To the latter cause, 
 we may also attribute the filth which disfigures 
 some of them, though in a much less degree than 
 is usual in the East. 
 
 All kinds of provisions are received either from 
 the other islands, or the opposite continent, and 
 a vast number of boats and small craft are con- 
 stantly employed in the transport of them. Does 
 it not appear singular, that the Turkish fleet 
 should never have attempted the blockade of so 
 populous a place, so entirely dependent on the sea 
 for every necessary ? The risk would have been 
 too great. In a strait so narrow, as that which 
 separates Hydra from the Morea, the fatal fire- 
 ships, the great bugbear of the Ottoman navy, 
 would have found too many opportunities for 
 action. 
 
 The population of Hydra is estimated (perhaps 
 with justice) at forty thousand souls. They are 
 Albanians exclusively ; and I think it probable, 
 that, notwithstanding the vicinity of the Morea, 
 not a dozen Greek families are to be found resL 
 dent in the island. I should except some Sciote 
 and Aivaliote refugees, who are, by the way, the 
 only mendicants in the place. 
 
 Albanian is, of course, the language used in 
 their intercourse with each other ; the men gene- 
 rally, perhaps universally, can converse in Greek ; 
 
104 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 
 but there are many of the wives and daughters of 
 these Hellenes (for they too will sometimes assume 
 the title of regeneration,) who are entire strangers 
 to the language of Greece. 
 
 The great cause of this rarity of sojourners in a 
 place entirely mercantile, is the extreme clannish- 
 ness of the natives ; and this jealousy is extended 
 to all foreigners without exception. It is no Alba- 
 nian suspiciousness, or dislike of what is Greek : 
 I am not aware that any such prejudice exists. 
 It is a feeling purely Hydriote, and operates 
 nearly equally against all the world : and, in fact, 
 if there be any people whom the Hydriotes hate as 
 a people, it is their brother Albanians and neigh- 
 bours, the Spezziotes and Crenidiotes. 
 
 Neither could I ever learn, on the other hand, 
 that the Greeks entertain any general prejudice 
 against the Albanian character. There are, indeed, 
 many mercenaries of that nation, who, during their 
 service in Greece, have plundered the peasantry, in 
 connexion probably with the native soldiers, and 
 on whom the entire odium has naturally fallen ; 
 but even this applies chiefly to those born on the 
 shores of the Adriatic. Against Albanian families 
 or villages established in Greece, I can perceive no 
 such antipathy. An Albanian commanded the 
 Greek fleet during the first year of the war, and 
 was succeeded in his command by an Albanian. 
 To the brother of the former admiral, the Cretans 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE* 
 
 105 
 
 voluntarily confided the government of their island ; 
 and the two persons at the head of the present ad- 
 ministration in the Morea are Albanians*. 
 
 And yet there would seem to exist some strong 
 characteristic distinctions between those two peo- 
 ple ; as far, at least, as I am able to judge from 
 a very short acquaintance with the Psarians and 
 the Hydriotes, who are perhaps the best models 
 of either character. Vivacity, levity, vanity, at- 
 tract and amuse you in the former, and are well 
 contrasted by the sedateness, pride, almost inso- 
 lence of the latter. The Greek has more wit, 
 and cleverness, and ingenuity ; the Albanian has 
 probably the advantage in sense and judgment: 
 and, if the one be more brilliant, the other is, per- 
 haps, more honest -f*. 
 
 There may, too, exist a similar opposition in the 
 nature of their crimes. Those of the Greek will 
 be of a lighter and less decided character : they 
 will possess more of versatility and chicanery, and 
 
 * It is a singular fact, that since the late unfortunate destruc- 
 tion of Psara by the Capudan Pasha, the whole of the fleet, 
 which is misnamed Greek, and on which repose the best hopes 
 of Greek independence, is Albanian. 
 
 t Lest I should be supposed to intend this very has!y sketch 
 as a perfect comparison between these distinguished islanders, 
 (a comparison which would thus appear too partial to the 
 Hydriotes,) I must acid, that some of the most daring- and suc- 
 cessful exploits, which have done honour to the Revolution, 
 have been performed by the hands of Psarians. 
 
106 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 roguery ; less of straight-forward, downright vil- 
 lany. 
 
 However, whether such differences in character 
 exist or no, a strong distinction in manners is im- 
 mediately observable, and this is entirely in favour 
 of the Greek, whose natural, and often attentive 
 politeness, is strongly contrasted with the sulky and 
 repulsive reserve of the Albanian. 
 
 I have not seen in any country so uniformly 
 well-dressed a population as that of Hydra ; I 
 speak of the men only, for the gaiety of the women, 
 whatever it may be, is pretty strictly confined to 
 their own apartments. There is no where the 
 slightest appearance of distress, or even poverty ; 
 nor yet is there any commercial bustle, or show of 
 industry or activity ; much less is there any parade 
 or demonstration of war. The people are peaceably 
 chatting in the bazars, and eating with their caviar 
 the whitest bread in the world, — a nation of gen- 
 tlemen, enjoying the united blessings of opulence 
 and tranquillity ! 
 
 In fact, the people of Hydra have yet suffered 
 none even of the ordinary miseries of war. The 
 sailors have been at various periods a great deal 
 employed, and (as we shall presently perceive) 
 enormously paid. They have shared the plunder 
 of several valuable prizes ; and in the whole sue- 
 cession of sanguinary victories which they are ima- 
 gined to have obtained over the Turks since the 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 107 
 
 commencement of the Revolution, I do conscien- 
 tiously believe that not twenty Hydriotes have 
 perished. 
 
 The government of the island is vested in the 
 hands of six Primates, who are sustained in the 
 exercise of their duty by the authority of the other 
 merchants; but their united weight, being de- 
 void of all physical support, is insufficient to 
 oppose any very general mutiny of the sailors, 
 who may be five or six thousand in number, and 
 are prepared on such occasions to proceed to any 
 extremity. It was thus, in fact, that Hydra was 
 first engaged in the present Revolution. Immedi- 
 ately after the first explosion at Patras, Spezzia 
 declared her independence ; the example of Spezzia 
 was very soon followed by Psara, but the Primates 
 of Hydra still hesitated ; they were much more 
 opulent than their neighbours, and therefore risked 
 much more by the throw when every thing was 
 staked. The sailors, on the other hand, who had 
 been unemployed since the preceding October, 
 when Conduriotti, and the other merchants, called 
 in their vessels, were enchanted by the fair prospect 
 of service and profit which was opened to them by 
 the insurrection ■ they became clamorous for liberty 
 and religion, and, on the further hesitation of the 
 merchants, they proceeded to goad and flog them 
 into independence. The favour which they thus 
 conferred on these gentlemen, (however ungrate^ 
 
108 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 fully conferred,) was no doubt precious and sub- 
 stantial ; and, as a slight return for it, they instantly 
 obliged them to distribute among their liberators a 
 gratuity of about * 150,000 dollars ! Such was the 
 horizon through which the glorious sun of freedom 
 first broke upon Hydra. 
 
 And here I may remark, that if extreme gratifi- 
 cation be sometimes afforded by a near and per- 
 sonal observation of the animated scenes of revolu- 
 tion, it must also be confessed that the spectacle is 
 productive of very frequent pain and disappoint- 
 ment to any one disposed to think favourably of 
 human nature. When we contemplate the work 
 from afar, we perceive not how many bad feelings, 
 and bad actions, how much jealousy, selfishness, 
 avarice, fraud, and injustice, is heaped together in 
 its composition. In the distant edifice Ave sec 
 nothing but majesty, till Ave examine the details of 
 its vulgar materials, and the ill-shaped and ill- 
 joined masses of which it is constructed. I mean 
 not to apply this remark particularly to the Greek 
 Revolution ; it is true, no doubt, in a greater or 
 less degree, of all the most splendid enterprises 
 consecrated by history ; only their deformities have 
 been concealed or forgotten in their grandeur or 
 success. 
 
 * The whole number of the mob was about live thousand, 
 and they extorted the sum of 50 beshleeksj or 250 piastres, 
 each; seven or eight piastres, at that time, went to a dollar. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 109 
 
 At the head of the revolutionary sedition just 
 mentioned, was one Capitan Antonio, a man of no 
 great repute in Hydra. We may readily believe 
 that the Primates were not well disposed to pardon 
 his offence, nor yet had they power, even after the 
 tumult was appeased, to punish him either openly 
 or on the scene of his criminality ; but having 
 procured his removal, on some pretence, to the 
 Morea, they sent after him persons to assassinate 
 him there. 
 
 A still more singular proof of the weakness of 
 the Hydriote Government, because it proves that 
 weakness habitual, is the toleration of a body of 
 notorious and professed assassins, Avho dwell in 
 seeming security in the very bosom of the city. 
 They may be ten or twelve in number, and I have 
 been assured that the Government is unable to put 
 them down. But their existence, we are told as 
 a consolation, is not productive of any very ex- 
 tensive evil, because, owing to the continual inter- 
 marriage of the Hydriotes, the number of surviving 
 relatives eager to avenge the murder of their kins- 
 men, renders the chance of impunity extremely 
 small for the murderer. However this may be, it 
 is very difficult not to entertain the suspicion that 
 these assassins arc in fact the machines of Govern- 
 ment, which, in the absence of a public and legal 
 executive force, is obliged to have recourse to this 
 
110 
 
 A VISIT TO GEEECE. 
 
 most contemptible substitute. At least, it is diffi- 
 cult to understand how a corps of professional 
 murderers can exist in any governed country, with- 
 out the connivance of its rulers ; and it is quite 
 certain that no government would ever connive at 
 their existence, except with the intention occasion- 
 ally to profit by it. 
 
 As individuals and as merchants, the leading 
 persons at Hydra are extremely and deservedly 
 respected ; and, in my short intercourse with them, 
 I have seen no proof of that repulsive inhospitality 
 with which I have sometimes heard them charged. I 
 have even been more fortunate in escaping any insult 
 from the lower classes, for from them, at least, I 
 had been always taught to expect insult as a matter 
 of course ; the populace of Hydra is notoriously 
 lawless and intractable. However, Greeks at last, 
 with all their national vanity, often do each other 
 great injustice. In this singular land, every man's 
 country is his own city, or his own mountain, or 
 his own rock ; and to these his mere patriotism, as 
 separated from his interest, is almost entirely con- 
 fined ; and he appears even to detest every thing 
 beyond them. Islanders abuse Moraites, and 
 Moraites calumniate Islanders, while many dis- 
 tricts in the Morea, and many isles in the Egean, 
 have their several subdivisions of animosity. So 
 that if these people are severally worse than they 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 represent themselves, we are often consoled to find 
 their neighbours very much better than we had 
 been instructed to expect. 
 
 Some of the merchants, notwithstanding the 
 sacrifices which the Revolution has extorted from 
 them, are still supposed to possess very considerable 
 capital, though to what amount, where placed, or 
 how at this moment employed, I cannot learn with 
 any certainty. Much is probably afloat in Frank 
 bottoms, and engaged in the corn-trade with Alex- 
 andria or the Black Sea. 
 
 Lazzari Conduriotti is the first person in the 
 island, a man of high and irreproachable character. 
 It is unfortunate for Greece that he has never yet 
 taken any part in the management of public affairs ; 
 the union of a few such men would give a stability 
 to the Central Government which it will scarcely 
 otherwise acquire. But his continual residence in 
 his native island is, unhappily, so necessary for the 
 regulation of its. affairs, that he cannot be spared 
 to direct the general administration of his country. 
 I believe, too, that the same cause has operated in 
 many other parts of Greece to prevent the repre- 
 sented town, or district, from electing its ablest 
 citizen as its representative. In the present un- 
 settled state of the country, every little local 
 government is so feeble and vacillating as to de- 
 mand, for its own immediate support, the presence 
 of whoever may happen to possess the greatest 
 
 ttHH 
 
112 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 local authority. Let us trust that the day is not 
 far distant when these " village Hampdcns" shall 
 step forth from their present obscurity, and exhibit 
 their wisdom and integrity in a field which, thus 
 far, has not been much distinguished by either of 
 those qualities. For the absence, however, of 
 Lazzari Conduriotti from this ample stadium, 
 much atonement is made by the exertions of his 
 brother, who has been very lately called to the 
 head of the executive body. 
 
 I am sorry to be obliged to believe that the 
 advantages of education are as yet extremely un- 
 der-valued at Hydra. Among the higher classes, 
 indeed, some few young men are sent to study in 
 Italy ; and many others, whom commercial specu- 
 lations may have established for a time in more 
 civilized lands, have not lost that opportunity to 
 instruct and inform themselves ; but the improve- 
 ment of the lower orders is miserably neglected ; 
 and to this cause, chiefly, we may attribute the 
 selfish and illiberal spirit by which they are cha- 
 racterized, their disposition to riot and disorder, 
 and that unmeaning pride and insolence of de- 
 meanour, which is so generally the companion of 
 ignorance. 
 
 With a view of diffusing some little political 
 information, a journal called the " Friend of the 
 Law," is to be established here in a few days, 
 under the patronage of the Primates and principal 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 113 
 
 merchants. It promises, from its prospectus, to 
 be a good constitutional paper, implacably hostile 
 to military authority and the despotism of the 
 Capitani. 
 
 Prince Maurocordato took refuge in Hydra after 
 his brutal expulsion from the Morea by Coloco- 
 troni, and remained here till he sailed for Miso- 
 longhi in December last. Every one speaks well of 
 him, and there are some who profess to consider 
 him " the only hope of Greece." Of the organiza- 
 tion and consolidation of Greece, it is, I fear, but 
 too true that our hopes do mainly repose on him. 
 
1H 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Hydra. March, 1824. 
 
 Let me now attempt to give some account of the 
 celebrated Greek navy, whose exploits, real and 
 imaginary, have filled us all with so much admira- 
 tion for the last two or three years. I have the 
 more pleasure in touching on this subject, because 
 the fleet forms by far the most respectable portion 
 of the insurgent force, and because it has hitherto 
 had no share in those transactions which have most 
 deeply disgraced the Revolution. 
 
 Every one is acquainted with the causes to which 
 this fleet is indebted for its existence ; nor is it less 
 generally known that the vessels are without ex- 
 ception the private property of the different mer- 
 chants of the three islands ; there is not, in fact, 
 in the whole Archipelago one government ship. I 
 have beheld too much of the real nature of this 
 singular contest to retain much disposition to en- 
 thusiasm ; but when I recollect the floating masses 
 which I have lately left at Constantinople, and in 
 the Dardanelles, — when I recollect the magnitude 
 and resources of the Turkish empire, its ports, its 
 forests, and its opulence, — and when I behold a 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 115 
 
 few individuals, the inhabitants of three naked 
 rocks, whose several cities * do not nearlv equal 
 the area of the mere Seraglio of the Sultan, animated 
 by a variety of feelings, of which some at least are 
 honourable, in support of a cause whose purity is 
 unassailable, — when I see these daring islanders 
 successfully bid defiance to their gigantic enemy, 
 and even defeat in open sea his unwieldly force, I 
 will not attempt to qualify the admiration which is 
 extorted from me by so singular a combination of 
 genius and audacity. 
 
 The Greek vessels are almost exclusively brigs, 
 mounting from eight to twenty guns ; not above 
 two or three corvettes are usually to be found in 
 their largest fleets, and those are little more formi- 
 dable than their companions. Every expedition is 
 attended by a certain number of fire-ships, in 
 which the entire hope of every offensive operation 
 appears to be placed. 
 
 The largest number that ever has been mustered 
 was from a hundred and twelve to a hundred and 
 sixteen sail, in the first year of the Insurrection. 
 The Hydriotes usually compose about two-fifths of 
 the united fleet, the Psarians and Spezziotes forming 
 the remainder, in the proportion, perhaps, of three 
 to two ; and such is nearly the proportion of the 
 population of the three Islands. The Admiral, or 
 
 * The Serai and its appendages cover a space of ground ex- 
 actly equal to that occupied by the entire city of Vienna. 
 
 I 2 
 
116 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 commanding Captain, (for as the Greek navy is 
 entirely a private establishment, there is no distinc- 
 tion of titles, nor any permanent rank, nor any 
 authority, derived even from seniority,) is a Hy- 
 driote, nominated, probably, by the Primates of 
 that island, who consult in their election the wishes 
 of the people. The officer who had the honour of 
 commanding the first Grecian fleet which presented 
 itself for the liberation of the Egean Sea, and 
 whose success prepared the way for the triumphs 
 which have followed, was Jacomaki Tomhazi, a 
 person of high distinction and zealous patriotism. 
 He was succeeded in 1822, by Andrea Meouli, who 
 still retains the command. For the singular popu- 
 larity which he enjoys among his compatriots, 
 Captain Andrea (so his sailors always familiarly 
 call him) is perhaps not more indebted to his great 
 natural talents than to his mild and unaffected 
 manners and demeanour, and his reputation of in- 
 violable integrity. Brave, modest, and disposed to 
 silence, yet frank and unsuspicious in communica- 
 tion, he possesses nothing of the Greek, either in 
 appearance or character ; and his want of parade 
 and brilliancy is amply compensated by qualities 
 which are at this moment of infinitely more service 
 to his country. * Of genius there is abundance in 
 
 * A very ingenious Greek once gave me ins opinion that "no 
 foreigner could he of any service to the cause who was not a 
 madman;" meaning, I suppose, that lie ought to sacrifice every 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 117 
 
 every cottage of Greece, but there is a dearth of 
 sound common sense, of cool dispassionate judg- 
 ment, of thought and foresight, which has occa- 
 sioned, and will still continue to occasion, many 
 disasters. Acuteness, vivacity, ingenuity, obtrude 
 themselves upon you at every step ; but I know 
 not where to search for wisdom. 
 
 The merchants of the three naval islands, on 
 whom has fallen mainly the whole expense of 
 equipping the fleet, were compelled to make enor- 
 mous sacrifices during the "first year of the Insur- 
 rection, — partly from the vast number of vessels 
 which it was at first thought necessary to emplov, 
 and partly from the very high pay which the sailors 
 appear to have demanded ; from ten even to fifteen 
 dollars a month, were the wages usually received by 
 
 interest, personal and national, to that which he volunteered to 
 support, and of course insinuating,- that nothing; would drive 
 any man to make such a sacrifice, except madness; and in fact, 
 I have often perceived that the people most disposed to ridicule 
 and despise practical Phil-hellenism, are the very Greeks for 
 whose benefit (fruitlessly, I allow) it has been exerted. 
 
 1 cannot, however, agree with my clever friend, that the cause 
 of Greece would be materially assisted by any fresh importation 
 of madness, from whatever market. I am even inclined to be- 
 lieve that there is at present no great scarcity of that article. 
 A supply, indeed, of political virtue, of disinterested patriotism, 
 of upright integrity, honour, and honesty, might not be super- 
 fluous: but these are commodities which the Greeks, unhap- 
 pily, must be left to manufacture for themselves. 
 
118 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 them. However, in 1822 the pay was fixed at 
 fifty Greek piastres (five dollars) a month, and still 
 remains at that rate. The number of ships in 
 commission was also reduced to nearly one half; 
 and in 1823 a still smaller squadron was found 
 sufficient to foil the efforts of a hundred and four 
 sail of Turkish ships of war. Indeed the entire 
 number of vessels which the Hydriotes sent to sea 
 last year was first, fifteen sail for one month only, 
 to collect the taxes in the Archipelago, which was 
 found to be extremely difficult without the presence 
 of an armed force. Next, on the return of the 
 Capitan Pacha from Patras, twenty vessels were 
 equipped for two months, till the return of the 
 Pacha to the Dardanelles ; and afterwards a small 
 squadron was despatched, in conjunction with the 
 Spezziotes, to the relief of Misolonghi, of which 
 the expense was nearly covered by a donation or 
 loan of Lord Byron. 
 
 The entire monthly expense of each vessel is 
 estimated on an average at 800 dollars; so that 
 the total disbursement of the Hydriotes for the 
 last year may be reckoned at something under 
 50,000 dollars. Now the contributions of the 
 smaller islands, which were devoted exclusively to 
 the maintenance of the fleet, amounted to about 
 26,000 dollars; and that of the Morea, for the 
 same purpose, to 12,000 ; total 38,000 ; of which 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 119 
 
 Hydra may have received 17,000 : so that her 
 entire naval expenditure for last year may be cal- 
 culated at about 30,000 dollars. 
 
 Now this sum does not very much exceed the 
 amount of her former contributions to the Turkisli 
 Government. The mere haratch indeed exceeded 
 not the trifling sum of five or six hundred dollars. 
 But this island alone was also obliged to maintain 
 three hundred sailors for the use of the Turkish 
 navy ; and their expense, on the supposition that 
 they were kept on foot for six months, at the 
 rate of eight, nine, or ten dollars a month, which 
 I understand to have been the case, was not less 
 than 16,000 dollars annually. Add to this the 
 usual presents to Turkish officers, and the occa- 
 sional extortions every where attendant on Ottoman 
 domination, and the whole amount will not be less 
 than 20,000 dollars. 
 
 Thus it would appear, that the repose which is 
 enjoyed " under the shadow of the Sublime Porte," 
 is almost as expensive as the independence which 
 is defended against its " omnipotence." We must 
 not forget, however, that the establishment of that 
 independence required more exertion and more sa- 
 crifices ; and when we consider that the commerce, 
 from which alone proceeded all the means of 
 sacrifice, has been now for three years nearly 
 extinct, we shall be disposed to agree, that the 
 honour and prosperity which will be the pro- 
 
120 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 bable consequence of the present contest, will not 
 have been unpaid for, or unmerited. 
 
 I have been anxious for some information re- 
 specting the discipline of this redoubtable navy, — 
 respecting the regulations which are observed in 
 the conduct of eacli vessel separately, and of the 
 "whole fleet generally, when united in actual ser- 
 vice ; and I am not without fears, that the account 
 which I am enabled to give, will appear absolutely 
 incredible to those who believe every thing to de- 
 pend on marked distinction of rank, and strictness, 
 if not severity, of discipline. 
 
 In a Greek fleet, there appears to exist neither 
 any gradation of rank, nor any sort of discipline 
 whatsoever. An admiral does indeed exercise the 
 nominal command, but with very slight means of 
 * enforcing his orders, even on board his own 
 vessel. All the rest is pure democracy. Every 
 sailor is made acquainted with the object of every 
 expedition, and generally forms, and sometimes 
 offers, his own particular opinion, as to the best 
 
 * I was once in company, at Hydra, with the popular 
 Meouli, when he was detained half an hour on the beach, 
 waiting- for his own boat's crew, who were drinking at a neigh- 
 bouring tavern ; and when they at last arrived, quite uncon- 
 scious of any irregularity, the good admiral privately confessed 
 that they had made their appearance sooner than he expected. 
 
 In the want of force, every point must be carried by manage- 
 ment and address, — a system of command for which the Greek, 
 character is peculiarly adapted. 
 
A VISIT TO GltEECK. 
 
 121 
 
 means of accomplishing it. And, were it not that 
 every individual is animated with the most violent 
 hatred against the commom enemy, and is strongly 
 sensible of the advantages of unanimity, I can 
 perceive no tie by which a fleet so constituted 
 could be held together for an hour. Indeed, I 
 have heard a frequent complaint, that the admiral, 
 at the moment of some important operation, has 
 often made at day-break the melancholy discovery, 
 that many of his squadron have deserted him in 
 the night; some, perhaps, on a visit to their fa- 
 milies at home, and others in pursuit of some pri- 
 vate scheme of profit or plunder. The sight of 
 a fine flock of sheep, grazing on a neighbouring 
 shore, has been known not unfrequently to seduce 
 from obedience the least disorderly among the Hel- 
 lenic mariners. 
 
 It is for these and similar reasons, that the 
 Greeks, notwithstanding their occasional successes, 
 have, in fact, lost many excellent opportunities of 
 action: nor do I believe that they could keep the 
 sea for a week against any naval enemy, except a 
 Turk or an Austrian. 
 
 On board their vessels separately, the only at- 
 tempt at subordination which I have ever per- 
 ceived or heard of is at meals, and I know not 
 whether this be not an invention peculiar to 
 Hydriote pride. The captain dines alone, and 
 the mate, (the nostr" 1 uomo, who acts as lieutenant,) 
 also munches his beans and caviar in solitude. Next 
 
122 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 in respect are four of the elder sailors, who generally 
 stand at the helm, and who also have a separate 
 table. These five, if we like, we may call officers, 
 and, indeed, the mate is often a kinsman or con- 
 nexion of the captain, and has, therefore, some 
 claim to that title. Again, the common sailors 
 have a subdivision of messes, regulated, I believe, 
 according to their age, and observed with scru- 
 pulous severity. 
 
 Now, though I cannot learn that any soul on 
 board (except the captain, who is generally owner,) 
 possesses any acknowledged authority over any 
 other, yet I am still persuaded that the above 
 culinary distinctions act in some measure as a sub- 
 stitute for real gradation of rank, and are of use 
 in the introduction of some sort of discipline. 
 At any rate, they contain the rudiments of a 
 system, which, under better circumstances, will 
 probably be brought to considerable perfection; 
 for the Greeks possess all the materials for an 
 excellent navy ; and, in some of the most useful 
 qualities of sailors, as adroitness, activity, inge- 
 nuity, they are individually inferior to no seamen 
 in the world. 
 
 The first step towards the accomplishment of 
 this object must, of course, be the establishment 
 of a national fleet; but, for this purpose, some 
 years of peace, and some stability of government, 
 are unfortunately necessary. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 iss 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Napoli di Romania, March, 1824. 
 
 I find myself here in the focus of a civil war, and 
 though it be merely one of those passing evils inci- 
 dental to every Revolution, I will enter into a 
 few details respecting its origin. They will throw 
 some light, perhaps, on the permanent character of 
 the insurrection, and the future hopes of Greece. 
 
 Greeks, under the Ottoman yoke, were either 
 brigands or slaves. To submit to every insult, or 
 to defy every law, was the terrible alternative. 
 The insurrection broke out; and, in the confusion 
 attending its commencement, it was natural that 
 those accustomed to riot and disorder should as- 
 sume the command over those whose habit had 
 been obedience. 
 
 The leader of the Klephtic or Robber party, was 
 Theodore Colocotrono. Descended from a race of 
 noble bandits, he had obtained some personal ho- 
 nour in his hereditary profession, before his admis- 
 sion into the English service ; and, in the interval, 
 during a residence of some months (or years) at 
 Zante, he had exercised with success the trade of 
 
124 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 a butcher. He was ealled to the Morea very early 
 in the Revolution. A fortunate engagement in the 
 neighbourhood of Tripolizza established his mili- 
 tary character, and the plunder of that city in 
 October, 1821, provided him with the most ef- 
 fectual means of supporting that character. 
 
 The party properly Klcphtic gradually acquired 
 many adherents in the Morea, and several distin- 
 guished persons who had never practised bri- 
 gandage became associated with it ; some from 
 mere love of military license, many from their 
 connexion with the family of their chief, and many 
 from ambition and avarice. These, united, formed 
 the party of the Capitani, in which more indefinite 
 and sonorous name, its Klephtic origin was merged 
 and forgotten. Petro Bey, Deliyanni, and others, 
 obtained some estimation and authority ; but Co- 
 locotroni was still the idol ; and, during the first 
 year of the insurrection, he possessed, in spite of 
 the name of Ypsilanti, almost unlimited influence 
 in the Morea. 
 
 In the mean time, Alexander Maurocordato 
 and Theodore Negris were respectively exerting 
 their pacific talents at Misolonghi and Salona, to 
 give shape and consistency to the chaos of Revo- 
 lution. In the winter of 1821 , at the invitation of 
 Ypsilanti^ and under the auspices of Maurocordato, 
 the whole political talent of Greece assembled at 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 125 
 
 Piada*; and, early in the spring following, came 
 forth the constitution, misnamed the " Law of 
 Epidaurlls.■' , Maurocordato was appointed Pre- 
 sident of the Executive, and enjoyed, for some 
 months, in name and in reality, the principal 
 authority in Greece. 
 
 Two causes are mentioned as having contributed 
 to diminish his influence. The first was his pre- 
 mature attack on the power of the Capitani, in the 
 person of Odysseus, which that artful partizan 
 had the address to avert ; and the second was, 
 his assumption of the military character, and de- 
 parture for Misoloffghi. His absence from the 
 Morea enabled Negris, and others of his own party, 
 to intrigue against him with success. 
 
 On the other hand, the Capitani gathered 
 strength from this disunion ; and their complete 
 triumph over the invading army of Dramali Pasha 
 in the ensuing August, put them for the moment 
 into the real possession of their former power. 
 
 But the constitution, though darkened, was not 
 
 •Jf Piada is beautifully situated on t'nc shore of Argolis, 
 nearly opposite to Egina, and a few miles distant from Epi- 
 daurus. Ill built and ill provided, it still offered more re- 
 sources to the Congress than any neighbouring town, and was 
 therefore selected to be the birth-place of the Greek consti- 
 tution. But the first act of that classical body was to defraud 
 Piada of the honour which it had meriled, and to affix to their 
 " Law," the more ancient and historical name of EpiJaurus. 
 
12G 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 extinguished ; and, in the spring of 1823, it made 
 a fresh effort at the celebrated Congress of Astros. 
 A few alterations were, on this occasion, intro- 
 duced into the body of the constitution, and it is 
 rather singular, that they were of a tendency de- 
 cidedly anti-military. But the Capitani overlooked 
 or despised such trivial operations, in their anxiety 
 for more obvious and substantial advantages. They 
 filled four out of five places in the Executive 
 with members of their own party; and, believing 
 that they had thus acquired the impunity to vio- 
 late (perhaps destroy) the entire system, they felt 
 little interested about the details of its conforma- 
 tion. The violent expulsion of Maurocordato 
 from the Morea was one of the many acts of law- 
 less tyranny which disgraced the reign of this 
 rapacious ministry ; and, at last, the very privacy 
 of the Legislative Body, assembled at Argos, was 
 violated by the son and soldiers of Colocotroni, 
 and the archives seized and carried *away. Mat- 
 ters were now brought to a crisis. The majority 
 of the Legislative transferred their sittings to 
 Crenidi, a town of Argolis, on the gulf of Na- 
 poli ; and, having previously summoned and de- 
 
 * They were recovered the same evening by a Government 
 C'apif.ano named Zarharopulo, a convivial person, who had the 
 address to intoxicate with impunity the principal officers of the 
 enher party, and then to rob them of their spoil. 
 
 I 
 
A VTSIT TO GREECE. 
 
 127 
 
 posed * Petro Bey, Soteri Charalambi, and An- 
 drea Metaxa, members of the late executive, they 
 filled the vacant seats by a fHydriote, a Spezziote, 
 and a ltomeliote ; the minority, consisting chiefly 
 of Moraite members, retired to Tripolizza, the 
 residence of Colocotroni, and the other ex-ministers- 
 
 The main support of the constitution now rested 
 on the Islanders; and, most fortunately for Greece, 
 their interests coincided with their duty. Upon 
 them had fallen the principal expenses of the war, 
 and the Morea had not contributed its quota to 
 defray them. The deficit in the Moraite contri- 
 bution was occasioned by the private extortions or 
 embezzlements of the military, and, therefore, 
 (would that I could honestly assign a more ho- 
 nourable motive,) the Islanders proclaimed then- 
 hostility to the Capitani. 
 
 The desire of possessing the beautiful fortress, 
 under whose shadow I am writing, was another 
 stimulus to their cupidity. Napoli, on its evacu- 
 ation by the Turks, had been occupied by the 
 Moraite soldiers, and Panos, the eldest son of Co- 
 locotroni, assumed, under the title of Phrourarch, 
 the most absolute authority. 
 
 # Colocotroni had voluntarily resigned, some months before 
 this time. Zaimi, the fifth member, though a captain, is a 
 constitutionalist. 
 
 t Condourriotti, Boutasi, and Coletti. Boutasi, as welkas 
 Theodore Negris, is said to have lately died of a fever at Napoli. 
 
128 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 Much negotiation had already taken place, and 
 the cession of the fortress had been frequently and 
 vainly demanded. At length, the " * Crenidiotes" 
 determined to commence hostilities, and reduce it 
 to submission by blockade. 
 
 I was, at that moment, at Hydra, anxious to 
 return to Napoli, where I had left most of my 
 papers and property ; but a strict embargo was 
 already laid on every boat in pert. Under these 
 circumstances, Admiral Meouli, who was on the 
 point of sailing to blockade the place, offered me 
 a passage in his own ship, and promised to find 
 the means of sending me on shore. I accepted the 
 proposal with gratitude. At three, P.M., on the 
 18th instant, we anchored at " the Mills, 1 ' (Myli,) 
 about six miles distant from the city ; and, on the 
 very same evening, I had an opportunity of cross- 
 ing the gulf, and was allowed, Avithout difficulty, 
 to land at Napoli. 
 
 * The term by which the Constitutionalists were contemptu- 
 ously called by the other party. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 129 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Napoli di Romania, March, 1824. 
 
 The situation of Nauplium (NaifoXjov, for so it 
 is still written, and sometimes pronounced) is 
 worthy of its heroic antiquity; nor do I recollect, 
 indeed, any where to have beheld a scene of more 
 imposing grandeur than that which surrounds you, 
 as you trace the little sheep-track running along 
 the sea-shore at the foot of the Palamedes. That 
 noble rock, crowned by its * impregnable fortress, 
 overhangs you on one side, while the long and 
 irregular gulf, opening into the distant Egean, 
 dashes up its spray on the other. Beyond the gulf 
 are the bold and broken mountains of Lacedaemon, 
 carelessly scattered along the shore ; and, from be- 
 hind them, the broad and snowy head of Taygetus 
 rises, as from a plain, in dreary but unrivalled 
 magnificence. This narrow and solitary path may 
 some day be the Academus of Napoli, — the school 
 
 * It is true, indeed, that the Greeks surprised the Palamedes 
 one slormy night shortly before the surrender of Napoli. Nof, 
 however, till they had well ascertained, that it had been already 
 abandoned by the enemy. 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 A VISTT TO GREECE. 
 
 where the children of free and regenerate Greece will 
 lament the miseries, or venerate the daring pa- 
 triotism, of their Fathers, while the spectacle of the 
 distant mountains will fill them with the perpetual 
 recollection of the most virtuous of their Ancestors. 
 They will compare the exploits of the one and of 
 the other, — they will compare the causes in which 
 they bled, the enemies over whom they triumphed ; 
 they will find a similarity in them all ; and, when 
 History shall have thrown its mellowing tints over 
 the deformities of this Revolution, they will be- 
 stow the same admiration on the modern, as on 
 the ancient, liberators of their country, and unite 
 the names of Niketas and Leonidas in their songs 
 and their festivals. 
 
 When Greece shall be independent and united, 
 under whatsoever form of government, Napoli will, 
 I doubt not, be selected for its capital. The vici- 
 nity of this city to the luxuriant plain of Argos on 
 the one side, and to the commercial islands of the 
 Archipelago on the other, its unassailable strength, 
 and the security of its port, mark it out distinctly 
 for the capital of a mercantile country ; and such 
 must Greece be, if it intend to be any thing. I 
 can perceive no other objection to it than the large 
 marsh which extends from the head of the gulf for 
 two or three miles inland, and which renders the 
 situation, at certain seasons, very unwholesome; but 
 this evil will be rapidly removed, as soon as ever 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 131 
 
 Greek industry and enterprise shall be directed by 
 a vigorous and intelligent Government. The * city, 
 as having been inhabited exclusively by Turks, is 
 by far the best built in Greece ; the greater part 
 of it has escaped the injuries of war, and the forti- 
 fications appear not to have sustained any damage- 
 There may be seven or eight thousand people now- 
 living here; but the city, if the ruined portion 
 shall be skilfully reconstructed, will easily contain 
 double that number. Some improvements have 
 already been made on the Marina; and, while phi- 
 lanthropic foreigners are establishing (or threaten- 
 ing to establish) schools, presses, and laboratories, 
 in every corner of the country, this lively and un- 
 scholastic people has already erected, for its own 
 civilization, an excellent Cafe aux billards. 
 
 I should be sorry to appear paradoxical ; but I 
 am not at all certain, that the path which the 
 Greeks have chosen for themselves is not surer and 
 shorter than that by which their foreign friends 
 would conduct them. Greeks, I fear, must be 
 Europeanized before they can be civilized, — they 
 must adopt our manners, before they will imitate 
 our customs, — they must dress, ride, sit, eat, play, 
 like us, before they will seriously emulate our 
 studies or our instructions. Introduce a taste for 
 our amusements, and other tastes will gradually 
 
 * I could not learn that either the city or fortress contain 
 any remains oi' antiquity. 
 
 K2 
 
132 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 follow ; give them *Telemachus to read, and 
 they will hereafter pore over Newton, — build them 
 a theatre now, and in fifty years they will build 
 hospitals for themselves. 
 
 I have frequently seen and conversed with the 
 Phrourarch, Panos Colocotroni. He is a very 
 young man, of most prepossessing manners and 
 appearance, and of abundant talents. His perfect 
 natural politeness makes amends for the indifference 
 of his education. He speaks and reads Italian witli 
 tolerable facility, and in the midst of foreign and 
 domestic war, in the latter of which, at least, he is 
 playing a most distinguished part, he applies him- 
 self occasionally to the study of French. That the 
 son of Theodore Colocotroni, a man who has been 
 successively a robber, a butcher, a soldier, a par- 
 tisan, and again a robber, should have many faults, 
 is not at all surprising : that he has any virtue is 
 our only marvel. For his reputed insolence and 
 imperiousness, Capitan Panos is obliged perhaps to 
 the circumstances under which he has passed the 
 last three years of his disorderly life. His avarice 
 may be hereditary or professional ; for avarice is a 
 distinctive quality in the character of all Capitani, 
 and is believed to be the only passion of their chief, 
 his father. 
 
 * I was surprised one day, on making a visit to Panos Colo- 
 cotroni, to discover the young- soldier earnestly engaged in the 
 study of Telemachus. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE . 
 
 133 
 
 It is painful to observe to what a dangerous 
 extreme this passion often carries them. The very 
 day before I arrived at Napoli, the soldiers had 
 mutinied; and, in consequence of repeated refusals 
 of their arrears of pay, had actually seized the Pa- 
 lamedes, and held it, in defiance of their com- 
 mander, till he discharged the whole of his debt. 
 The sum for which he risked the loss of his entire 
 authority was at last only ten thousand piastres, 
 (two hundred pounds,) and even for this, though 
 believed to possess above a million piastres, he 
 made application to his father at Tripolizza. His 
 father referred the application to the few members 
 of the Legislative who were residing, under the 
 name of Government, in that city, and actually 
 obliged them to advance the money. No one pities 
 the sufferers ; but all consider it an act of very fair 
 retribution, that those who have seceded from the 
 constitution, which it was their duty to protect, 
 should pay the penalty of their apostacy. 
 
 One afternoon, I happened to pay my respects 
 to Capitan Panos at some moment of particular 
 interest. I found him surrounded by his divan 
 of shaggy officers and soldiers, seated and stand- 
 ing, in every attitude, and loaded with arms : and, 
 moving among them, as if for contrast, I per- 
 ceived, with surprise, his very young and beautiful 
 bride. Her light-hearted gaiety and gracefulness 
 
134 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 infused a singular sort of animation into the gloomy 
 assembly. 
 
 Another lady, of equal distinction, and more 
 notoriety, assisted at this extraordinary council of 
 war. Most people have heard of the " heroine v 
 Bobolina; this important person was born at Hy- 
 dra; but as her husband, to whose large property 
 she has succeeded, was a native of Spezzia, her 
 usual residence is in that island. She displayed 
 much zeal in the beginning of the Revolution, and 
 equipped several vessels for the naval service ; she 
 directed, too, her attention towards the Morea ; 
 she formed an early connexion with Colocotroni, 
 and shared, if she be not much belied, no trifling 
 proportion of the plunder of Tripolizza. She 
 certainly entered that city a few days after its 
 capture, while its streets were yet reeking with 
 blood, in a kind of triumph, on horseback, astride, 
 after the manner of Orientals and Amazons. Since 
 that period, she has married her pretty daughter to 
 Capitan Panos, thus strengthening her Continental 
 influence; while old Colocotroni obtained by the 
 connexion the support of a considerable party in 
 Spezzia. Thus, then, is Bobolina, at the same 
 time, an Islander and a Capitana. 
 
 Nothing is so dull and unpopular as truth : are 
 we not educated in the flattering belief that he- 
 roines are a species distinctively valiant, generous. 
 
 -rT f 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 135 
 
 and disinterested, — surpassingly beautiful, and of 
 unfading youth ? such ought to be the heroine 
 Bobolina ; and it is not without reluctance that I 
 am brought to confess that this warlike lady, the 
 Hippolyta of the nineteenth century, is old, un- 
 mannerly, ugly, fat, shapeless, and avaricious. 
 
 Some spirit of enterprise and speculation she 
 most assuredly possesses, nor has she failed to turn 
 it to very profitable use. Two mints have been 
 established under her auspices, at Spezzia and 
 Napoli ; the rapid depreciation of the Turkish 
 piastre, and the little intrinsic value of the last 
 gold coinage, have opened a lucrative field for 
 forgery ; the coinage has been imitated by the 
 Greeks with great success, and large quantities of 
 it have been privately imported as Turkish money, 
 into various parts of Asia. Similar attempts were 
 made to imitate the Spanish dollar, but not with 
 the same success; in weight, indeed, the forged 
 seldom falls short of the real dollar ; but the in- 
 difference of the execution makes them instantly 
 distinguishable. In the mean time, this false coin- 
 age has obtained very little circulation among the 
 Greeks; that pecuniary people throws far too keen 
 a regard of scrutiny on a dollar or a machmoodie, 
 to be easily deceived as to its genuineness or value ; 
 all, too, are aware of the fraud which it is at- 
 tempted to impose upon them, and all are well 
 
136 
 
 A VISTT TO GREECE. 
 
 acquainted with its heroic authoress, — so well, that 
 the very name which they always apply to a false 
 coin is the name of the lady to whose ingenuity 
 they feel obliged for it ; and Bobolina, if she be 
 destined to any sort of immortality, will descend to 
 posterity as a by-word. 
 
 There is yet one other * heroine, of whom jus- 
 tice and gallantry alike require me to say some- 
 thing: her name is Mandd; she is of the dis- 
 tinguished Mavroyeni family, and is an inhabitant 
 (if not native) of Miconi. She maintained many 
 soldiers at the siege of Tripolizza, and has contri- 
 buted liberally and zealously towards the success 
 of the contest. She has reaped the rewards of 
 disinterestedness : a house which she possessed near 
 
 * I afterwards heard still another well-authenticated story of 
 a heroine, but I am sorry to add that this lady was anonymous. 
 A young Greek girl, it seems, of extravagant beauty, marched 
 with her brethren, in male attire, against Yussuf Pasha and the 
 Lalliotes ; she was taken, and brought before the Pasha. 
 Yussuf was struck by the appearance of his prisoner, and 
 determined that so handsome a head should not be sent to Con- 
 stantinople; he granted him life, and even ordered him ad- 
 mission among his own slaves. Here, however, whether from 
 gratitude for the former favour, or disinclination to the latter, 
 the young soldier discovered her sex ; the Pasha, of course, 
 became instantly enamoured; the captive was obdurate and 
 inflexible, nor was it till after she had rejected many tempting 
 but exceptionable overt (ires, that she was at last admitted to the 
 vacant sofa of his fourth wife. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 137 
 
 Napoli, and which contained much of her property, 
 was very lately entered by a body of soldiers, 
 plundered, and burnt ; and all this was done, as far 
 as I can learn, without any provocation, and with 
 the most perfect impunity. She has now retired to 
 Tripolizza, where her intimacy is said to be re- 
 spectfully courted by Demetrius Ypsilanti. She is 
 described to be a tall, thin, unattractive person, of 
 about flve-and-thirty # . 
 
 * 1 am sorry to be obliged to believe, that Panos Colcotroni 
 lias been lately killed in one of tliose civil broils, which con- 
 tinue to disgrace the Insurrection, and to damp the hopes and 
 paralyze the exertions of the friends of Greece. — 2d Edition. 
 
188 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Argos, March, 1824. 
 I did not leave Napoli till obliged by the very 
 near approach of a body of Government soldiers 
 from Crenidi, who are to establish the blockade 
 of the city by land. That by sea is sufficiently 
 enforced by two brigs, a Hydriote and a Spezziote. 
 I received, in both my visits to that place, great 
 civilities from Capitan Panos; and I trust that, 
 whatever course the Revolution may ultimately 
 take, that young man will be permitted and in- 
 structed to direct his talents to the real benefit of 
 his country. There can exist no possible reason 
 why he should be involved in the ruin of his party, 
 (for his party seems destined to ruin,) or even in 
 the fate of his incorrigible father. Every thing 
 may be hoped from the flexibility of youth, and 
 the * Phrourarch of Napoli may hereafter draw his 
 
 * I have been surprised to observe how little real power, 
 with all their insolence and parade of despotism, these Capitani 
 possess over their subjects, in consequence entirely of their 
 notorious avarice. Panos had offered me horses whenever I 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 139 
 
 honourable sword in defence of a constitutional 
 monarchy. 
 
 " The Mills, 11 before which the Admiral is sta- 
 tioned, have been lately fortified by Panos, and 
 are defended by a sufficient force ; and the country 
 between Argos and the head of the gulf is occupied 
 by the soldiers of Capitan Coliopulo, a very con- 
 sequential gentleman, who possesses much influ- 
 ence in the neighbourhood of Caritena, and is 
 suspected of some secret inclination towards the 
 constitutional party. At the moment of my arrival 
 here, I saw a few shots fired from the ships, and 
 there seemed to be a little bustle on the shore, 
 which lasted for five minutes. Presently news ar- 
 rived that the Government had disembarked troops, 
 and carried the Mills by storm. Not a soul was 
 injured on either side. Most of the garrison are 
 even said to have been straggling about the coun- 
 try in pursuit of plunder, at the moment of attack. 
 
 should choose to leave Napoli; but when 1 applied fov them, 
 it seemed as if there were but one horse in the whole city 
 over which he had any influence. Its owner was brought 
 before him, and it required a very long harangue, and a 
 thousand threats, to induce him to engage to convey me as far 
 as Argos, and when, at last, we left the hall together, the man 
 asked me, whether I was to pay him for the horse, or Ca- 
 pitan Panos? 1 told him that I should pay him. "In that 
 case," said he, " 1 am at your service."' 
 
 Odysseus carries matters with a much higher hand at 
 Athens. 
 
140 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 Treachery, of course, had preconcerted the whole 
 affair. 
 
 The present will prove, if I mistake not, the 
 most innocent civil war on record. Scarcely a 
 movement will be made, of which some intrigue 
 shall not previously have secured the success. 
 With abundance of negotiation, threats, promises, 
 bribery, and perjury, there will happily be extremely 
 little bloodshed. Greeks are any thing rather than 
 hard fighters : indeed, they will never fight, if 
 they can avoid it, except under the most favourable 
 circumstances of position, numbers, or darkness. 
 A few hundred marksmen defend one of those 
 impenetrable passes, with which the country 
 abounds, against a body of Turkish cavalry, who 
 present themselves, stupidly rather than cou- 
 rageously, to be butchered and plundered. Any 
 offensive movement is a surprise, generally noc- 
 turnal. I know no single instance, during the 
 whole contest, of a *battle well disputed, on equal 
 terms, on fair open ground, and in the face of 
 day. Ev Se Qzei xal oXe^ov, is no longer the motto 
 of Grecian heroism : " dolus an virtus''' is disco- 
 vered to be the securer principle. 
 
 The officer, commanding the Government troops 
 
 * The battle of Petla approaches most nearly to an exception ; 
 but that was fought by Germans, and lost by the treachery of 
 Greeks. The battle of Carpenissi, in which the Greeks attacked, 
 was a night action. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 141 
 
 marching up from Crenidi, who may at most be 
 five or six hundred in number, is named Iatraki ; 
 lie gained some distinction at the siege of Tripo- 
 lizza. Capital! Zacharopulo headed the party 
 that took the Mills. Neither are persons of high 
 character or military reputation. 
 
 I am detained here partly from the impossibility 
 of obtaining horses, at any price, to proceed to 
 Tripolizza; and partly, I think, from a little sus- 
 piciousness in the officers commanding here. That 
 I should be travelling in this country, and at this 
 moment, for mere amusement or curiosity, is, of 
 course, quite incredible; and, in spite of all my 
 efforts to produce the contrary belief, I am sus- 
 pected, I fear, of Phil-hellenism. It is in vain 
 that I cry out for antiquities, and buy the rubbish 
 that is presented to me : the Capitani frown upon 
 me, and clearly take me for an agent of some 
 Greek Committee or Philanthropic Society. How- 
 ever, some letters which I am bearing from Panos 
 Colocotroni to his father, will secure my departure 
 for Tripolizza. A guard of soldiers is not said to 
 be necessary, nor if it were, could I, under such 
 circumstances, obtain one. 
 
 My host is a physician, a native of Corfu. He 
 lives, with his wife and family, in wretched po- 
 verty, in a dark and dirty mud cottage, and is 
 clothed with extravagant splendour. The history 
 of his habiliments proves to be this. After having 
 
142 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 been entirely stripped, in company with some un- 
 fortunate French and German Phil-hellenes, by a 
 party of soldiers, he was driven by want to turn 
 Capitano. He went to Athens, and commanded, 
 during the first siege of the Acropolis, a body of 
 thirty men, without possessing (to use his own 
 words) thirty paras to pay them. Fortune, how- 
 ever, favoured his enterprise. The Turks made a 
 sally; there was some skirmishing; and the Doc- 
 tor had the enviable honour to kill the best-dressed 
 Mussulman of the party. He stripped, the slain, 
 more majorum, and appropriating the greaves, 
 helmet, and corset, decamped alone in the course 
 of the following night, leaving his unpaid and 
 hungry followers to their own discretion, or to the 
 command of some other adventurer as unprincipled 
 and as beggarly as himself. 
 
 As the Government troops are expected to take 
 this place in a few days, and their indiscipline is 
 extremely dreaded, the Argives have in general 
 hidden their property, and carried up their flocks 
 into the mountains. My poor host, among the 
 rest, has buried under the earthen floor of his 
 hut, the few articles of any value which remain to 
 him ; and stands prepared, within his bare mud 
 walls, to encounter any storm of adversity. 
 
 The fortresSj overiookin°" the town of Argos, is 
 well situated, but entirely out of repair, and un- 
 provided with cannon ; and yet, in the famous 
 
A YISTT TO GREECE. 
 
 148 
 
 invasion of Dramali Pasha, in July, 1822, Deme- 
 trius Ypsilanti defended it for some days against 
 the awkward efforts of the Turkish army- On 
 this occasion, above two hundred shot were fired 
 by the enemy, of which ten only struck any part 
 of the building. It is very possible, that the 
 delay occasioned by this operation, which is en- 
 tirely due to the courage of Ypsilanti, prevented 
 the temporary re-occupation of the Morea. The 
 Greeks were panic-struck by the unusual rapidity 
 of the attack, and were quite disposed to desert 
 their leaders, and disperse among the mountains. 
 The first check received by the enemy instantly 
 revived their confidence ; the Turks began to 
 starve in the plains which had been already laid 
 waste by the inhabitants, and no longer thought 
 of advancing ; while Niketas and Colocotroni, with 
 an energy which will immortalize them, occupied 
 the passes in their rear : it was better to perish by 
 the sword than by famine, and the Mussulman 
 rode into the passes, with his sabre in the sheath, 
 and his hands before his eyes, the victim of des- 
 tiny. A terrible carnage was committed with almost 
 perfect * impunity ; and, if the Greeks, from fear 
 
 * I possess a copy of a letter from Niketas to Odysseus, 
 giving an account of this affair. Tie estimates the loss of 
 the Turks at above four thousand five hundred, and that 
 of his own soldiers at fifteen killed and wounded, and eight 
 missing. 
 
144 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 or neglect, had not left one road entirely unoc- 
 cupied, by which most of the enemy escaped, the 
 whole of the Ottoman army might have fallen on 
 that spot. The name of the pass most fatal to the 
 invader is Dervenaki : it lies on the principal road 
 from Argos to Corinth. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 145 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Tripolizza, March. 
 
 In my way to this place, I fell in with a party of 
 peasants, who related to me with great animation 
 the following story. A body of government troops 
 had approached Tripolizza, and Colocotroni or- 
 dered his kinsman Niketas to march out against 
 them ; upon which that popular patriot exclaimed, 
 " Send me out to the frontiers to repel the whole 
 force of Turkey, and I am eager to obey; but 
 against my own brothers I will not march !" On 
 my arrival here not many hours afterwards, I 
 learnt that Niketas had already marched " against 
 his own brothers," and was pursuing them with 
 zeal and rapidity *. However, the speech is still 
 related with enthusiasm, in defiance of the fact, 
 and may possibly be destined to survive it. The 
 
 * There are two Capitani named Niketas, and they were 
 upon this occasion opposed. Colonel Stanhope tells us (on 
 the authority, probahly, of Papas Flesas) a very romantic story 
 of their encounter, and very properly recommends it to the 
 credulity of German committees, and the imagination of German 
 dramatists The least distinguished of the two is the brother of 
 Papas Flesas; the other, Niketas Tlamatelopulo, is the most 
 valiant, the most active, and the poorest of the capitani. 
 
UG 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 Greeks are full of the vive la gloire principle ; 
 they find it much easier to admire than to practise 
 what is noble and disinterested ; and when they 
 shall be reformed and purified into a nation, they 
 will most resemble, among the ancients, the Athe- 
 nian people, and among moderns, the French. 
 
 This city presents not at all the scene of entire 
 devastation which the stories of its capture would 
 lead us to expect. Some quarters, indeed, have 
 suffered severely, but the main body and centre of 
 the town, and the principal public buildings, re- 
 main nearly uninjured. The extensive Bazars, 
 formerly occupied exclusively by Turks, are now 
 as numerously attended, and as amply provided, 
 by the industrious natives; and what they have 
 lost in dignity and splendour, they have gained 
 in bustle and activity. It is painful, however, to 
 remark that the Bazar of the blacksmiths is that 
 most frequented, and that the busiest traffic is in 
 muskets, sabres, and attaghans. 
 
 I can pretend to give no estimate of the popula- 
 tion ; the circumference of the city, within the 
 walls, may be about four miles; and the walls, 
 though unable to resist the feeblest cannonade, 
 may be considered, for this country, as tolerably 
 efficient ; all the gates are built up except three, 
 where a few soldiers are negligently stationed. I 
 find all the inhabitants, and not least the military 
 part, extremely disposed to acts of attentive civi- 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 147 
 
 lity ; and in fact, this is the only Greek town in 
 which I have yet set foot, where I perceive a de- 
 cided disposition to respect the European costume, 
 rather than to ridicule and insult it. I mean not 
 that I have been any where subject to absolute 
 outrage, but there are a thousand little signs, short 
 of outrage, winch discover the disposition of a 
 people towards the stranger who is carelessly 
 mingling with them. 
 
 I am the more surprised at this exception, be- 
 cause the population here is purely Moraite ; and I 
 had been prepared at Athens, and in the islands, 
 to expect in the Morea (should I dare to venture 
 thither) nothing but villany, lawlessness, and bru- 
 tality ; and, in fact, I had some difficulty in pre- 
 vailing upon an iEginetan servant to accompany me 
 into this land of savages. My short experience 
 induces me to believe that the * Moraites are at 
 least as honest and as orderly as their brother Hel- 
 lenes, and I mistake if they be not rather more 
 civilized. The peasant of Attica, indeed, is pro- 
 verbially respectable and inoffensive; but I per- 
 ceive in the native Moraite soldier, drawn also 
 from the peasantry of the country, an anxiety to 
 oblige, expressed with such natural politeness as to 
 contrast him most favourably with the surly vaga- 
 bond adventurers who keep guard at the gates of 
 
 * I should, perhaps, except the Mainotes. 
 
 L2 
 
148 
 
 A VTSIT TO GREECE. 
 
 Athens, or the insolent and unmannerly sailor of 
 Hydra or Spezzia. 
 
 I have learnt with sorrow, but without surprise, 
 that the violent change of circumstances has pro- 
 duced a sad revolution in the morals of the female 
 part of the population ; but this, if it be a neces- 
 sary, is happily only a temporary evil, and will dis- 
 appear in the train of those calamitous events 
 which have introduced it. 
 
 If the Greek cause has suffered much injury 
 from the absurd exaggerations of those who have 
 chosen to call themselves exclusively its friends, it 
 has also great reason to complain of the calumnies 
 of its enemies ; and the massacre of Tripolizza has 
 been the favourite theme of the latter. I have 
 taken some pains to ascertain the truth of thi^ 
 affair, and a variety of information has led me 
 to believe, — first, that the city was fairly taken 
 by assault*, and that the Turks, after the enemy 
 had entered, made a vigorous resistance in the 
 streets and houses ; next, that the Albanians, who 
 were privately treating with the besiegers, though 
 the conditions were not yet ratified when the place 
 was taken, were nevertheless spared by the con- 
 querors, and afterwards escorted out of the Morea 
 in security; and lastly, that the carnage was not 
 universal even among the Turks. We know that 
 the whole of Hurshid Pasha's harem was pre- 
 
 * By surprise, I mean, not by capitulation. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 149 
 
 served, and are assured that many women and 
 children, who were at the time reduced to slavery 
 have since found means to retire into a Mahometan 
 country. Besides which, the Turkish population, 
 at the moment of the assault, was not nearly so 
 numerous as has been represented. An epidemic 
 fever, which had already made great ravages, is 
 believed to have reduced it to about fifteen thou- 
 sand. That some studied cruelties, some ingenious 
 devices of barbarity, were exercised upon the suf- 
 ferers cannot, I fear, be denied ; and herein Greek 
 brutality imitates, however imperfectly, the cha- 
 racter of French republicanism. A Turk is more 
 manly in his rage ; he is contented to be serious 
 when he is savage ; his fury seeks only the * death 
 of its victims; he sees nothing ridiculous in the 
 spectacle of human agony. In the midst of his 
 wildest madness, reeking and steaming with blood, 
 he is at least free from that horrible infusion of 
 frivolity, which can extract amusement from mas- 
 sacre, and convert the real tragedy of revolu- 
 tionary abominations into a fete or a farce. 
 
 I believe, that the only step which the Greek 
 government has yet made towards the improve- 
 ment of the people is the establishment of a Lan- 
 
 * Impalement is a legal punishment, and 1 have never heard 
 that it has been inflicted except deliberately, aud by order of 
 some officer. 
 
150 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 castrian school at Tripolizza. A mosque has been 
 dedicated to that purpose; the present master 
 was educated in the schools of Yassi and Bucha- 
 rest, and appears a zealous and intelligent person. 
 I was amused to perceive the youngest son of 
 Colocotroni, a very fine boy, not more than ten or 
 twelve years old, splendidly dressed and loaded 
 with pistols and attaghans, strutting about the 
 place, and imperiously directing his school-fellow.;, 
 — as if to prove to them that arms must ever pre- 
 vail over learning, and that the dominion of the 
 capitani (like that of the Sultan) was hereditary 
 and eternal ! 
 
 I have presented myself three or four times at 
 the levees of Colocotroni, and have received from 
 him repeated assurances of his peculiar respect for 
 the English nation, and his attachment to its indi- 
 vidual members ; and in fact, he immediately pro- 
 vided me with an excellent lodging which I could 
 not otherwise have procured. These professions 
 amuse me the more, as the old hypocrite is notori- 
 ously anti-Anglican, and is continually and pub- 
 licly accusing the Britjsh Government of designs 
 to occupy and enslave the Morea. His manners, 
 however, to do him justice, are utterly devoid of 
 urbanity, and, like his countenance and dress, are 
 precisely those Avhich best become a distinguished 
 captain of banditti. His court seems to consist of 
 about fifteen capitani, who seat themselves on the 
 
A vrsiT TO GRRRCK 
 
 151 
 
 sofa which lines three sides of his spacious hall ; 
 from the walls are suspended Turkish muskets 
 curiously inlaid, with many valuable pistols and 
 sabres. His capitani are as filthy a crew as I ever 
 beheld, and for the most part ill-looking, and very 
 meanly attired; but the most miserably starving 
 wretch that I have observed among them, is a 
 Papas, or priest, bonneted and bearded, but still 
 military. The usual covering for their head is 
 nothing more than the red cap of the country ; 
 but there are generally two or three of the party 
 who think proper, from whatsoever feeling of va- 
 nity, to burden themselves with extremely large 
 and shapeless turbans ; Colocotroni takes little no- 
 tice of any of them, and seldom rises at their 
 entrance. The fourth side of the room is occupied 
 by a number of soldiers, who remain standing ; 
 upon some occasion Colocotroni thought p*oper to 
 command them to retire, — they obeyed reluctantly 
 and slowly, and in a very few minutes returned in 
 parties of two or three, and re-occupied their sta- 
 tion. There is no smoking, nor any circulation of 
 coffee or conversation. This singularly dull scene 
 may last about twenty minutes, and then, on some 
 signal from the Chief, the party rise and disperse. 
 
 Demetrius Ypsilanti is living here in perfect 
 privacy ; I have had some friendly communication 
 with him, and believe him to be an honest, well- 
 meaning, disinterested patriot; but he possesses, 
 
152 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 unhappily, neither wealth, nor talents, nor mere 
 physical power, sufficient to qualify him for any 
 eminent situation civil or military, and the magic 
 of his name is now very nearly passed away. Be- 
 sides which, he has a violent personal jealousy of 
 Maurocordato, which will prevent hini, I fear, 
 from any cordial co-operation with a person whose 
 energies are proved by every collision to be so far 
 superior to his own. It is, possibly, from this 
 very discreditable motive that he allows himself to 
 be made the occasional tool of the military party*. 
 Petro Bey is a fat, dull, well-looking personage, 
 who is addicted to no particular class of political 
 opinions, and appears peculiarly unenlightened by 
 any sort of foreign information ; he is understood 
 to have made great progress (for an oriental) in 
 the science of gastronomy, and is believed to be 
 willing to embrace any form of government which 
 will leave him riches, and give him peace, abun- 
 dance, and security. It is then imagined that he 
 Avould introduce French cookery among the Main- 
 otes, as an excellent substitute for the indifferent 
 potations of their Spartan ancestors. 
 
 * It should be mentioned, however ,that this jealousy did not 
 prevent him from making great exertions to relieve Missolonghi, 
 when defended bv his rival in the winter of 1822. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 153 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Tripolizza, March, 1823. 
 
 The Greeks in general discuss their present poli- 
 tical condition (and what other subject is now 
 interesting to any Greek ?) with great freedom and 
 good sense. They believe too that they are per- 
 fectly acquainted with their own interests, and 
 that no foreigner can be equally so. They even 
 speak with great moderation of the treatment 
 (however discouraging and unexpected) which 
 they have received from their fellow-christians be- 
 yond the Adriatic. 
 
 Austria has courted and secured their hatred ; 
 but, mixed with that hatred, common as it is to 
 the breast of every Greek, I have frequently ob- 
 served a strong feeling of contempt, which is not 
 so easily accounted for. 
 
 The conduct of the French ships of war sta- 
 tioned in the Archipelago, is considered, with some 
 exceptions, to have done them honour; but it 
 would seem, that some persons, professing to be 
 deputies from the knights of Malta, who have 
 lately been intriguing at Hydra, with no very in- 
 
154 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 telligible object, have excited great suspicions as to 
 the disinterestedness of French Phil-hellenism. 
 
 As to England, notwithstanding occasional com- 
 pliments with which I am flattered on the liberality 
 of our institutions and sentiments, I cannot perceive 
 any great desire to court our protection, or any 
 great preference for our character. At present, 
 indeed, we are in high favour with the constitu- 
 tional party, from the increasing expectation of the 
 success of the loan; but this is all. The only key 
 to their affections is the loan. They ask neither 
 for our counsels, nor our hospitals, nor our of- 
 ficers, nor our Lancastrian schools. They pro- 
 fess to need no aid that the world can afford them, 
 except money. Every species of advantage and 
 improvement is comprehended by them in that 
 dear word. 
 
 The dread of poverty being removed, still are 
 there two other evils which they deprecate with 
 almost equal fervency, — Russian protection and 
 Turkish domination. On these two points, there 
 is no variation of opinion. They look back to the 
 birth of their Revolution : they recollect that it 
 was the hand of Russia which threw the first snake 
 into the infants cradle. There was something un- 
 natural, (they say.) something of infanticide, in 
 that act. They nourish the remembrance of it in 
 the bottom of their hearts, and ages will not be 
 long enough to efface it. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 loo 
 
 Again, the mere possibility of relapsing under 
 the Ottoman yoke is ever treated with absolute 
 derision. These heroes appear to think it less 
 difficult for Greece to overthrow the throne of the 
 Sultans, than for the Sultan to re-establish his 
 crescent on the soil of Greece. 
 
 This confidence, which now amounts to absolute 
 presumption, is the natural and almost necessary 
 consequence of their circumstances. Unassisted, 
 unprotected, against prudence, and almost against 
 hope, they have now, for three years, continued 
 to contend, with occasional success, against the 
 mighty empire of which they had long formed a 
 very insignificant portion. The being whom they 
 had been instructed to dread and to obey, proves, on 
 experience and collision, to possess energy, activity, 
 talents, far inferior to themselves. Astonished at 
 the discovery, they fly to the opposite extreme, 
 and exchange their reverential terror for a con- 
 tempt so excessive, as to be scarcely merited even 
 by the Turkish government. I am sometimes 
 disposed to fear, that this unlimited insolence of 
 spirit will lead them into some reverse ; and I am 
 quite sure that any sudden increase of vigour on 
 the part of the Turks exerted against an enemy 
 perfectly unprepared for any such change, would 
 prove, in the first instance successful ; but in 
 the first instance only. There is a happy elasticity 
 in the Greek character, which would prevent per- 
 
156 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 manent depression, and probably occasion a re- 
 action upon the aggressor nearly proportionate to 
 the violence of the aggression. The Greeks, after 
 all, possess the capability of greater exertions than 
 any which have yet been required of them. They 
 possess energies which the blundering incapacity 
 of the Turk has not yet called into action ; and 
 I have little doubt that on tne appearance of any 
 very imminent danger from their present enemy, 
 they would discover resources sufficient to avert or 
 dispel it. 
 
 I have been assured that there Mas a period ip 
 the Revolution when the Greek government Avas 
 ready to have listened to very moderate terms of 
 accommodation with Turkey, concluded under the 
 mediation of the Allied Powers. If this be true, 
 I am quite certain that that disposition is now 
 nearly extinct, and I have some apprehension that 
 it will not easily be revived. Absolute and un- 
 conditional independence must now be the basis of 
 any treaty by whomsoever guaranteed. Any pro- 
 posal, however advantageous, which rested not on 
 that foundation, would meet, I think, with no 
 serious attention. 
 
 On this point, I cannot help expressing my con- 
 viction, that the Greeks are rather guided by their 
 vanity than the consideration of their real interest. 
 The great cause of their actual success, and the 
 only hope of their future greatness, is an active 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 157 
 
 application to commerce. There are already many 
 who are suffering most severely from its present 
 suspension, and whose sufferings will rapidly in- 
 crease, as the contest shall be prolonged. Nor is 
 this evil confined to the mercantile portion of the 
 population, — primates, priests, artisans, and pea- 
 sants, all, except the few Capitani who are pro- 
 fiting by the general confusion, unite in the cla- 
 morous cry for peace. But for how many years 
 may not their clamours and their miseries be con- 
 tinued before the Grand Seignior shall be reduced 
 to acknowledge the independence of Greece ! Know 
 they not, that the Turk is at least as obstinate as 
 he is impotent, and that the very substitute for 
 power in which he wraps himself is arrogance and 
 haughtiness? From a Government, thus bloated, 
 and nourished only by pride, do they expect a 
 voluntary confession of its own imbecility ? Or do 
 they perceive a disposition in the Christian powers 
 (in Austria, for instance, or in Russia ?) to interfere 
 with arms in their favour ? For any expectation that 
 they can, by their own means , extort such an ac- 
 knowledgment, and march the * unpaid ragga- 
 m tiffins of Odysseus to the gates of Constantinople, 
 is beneath our ridicule. Thus then they would 
 
 * In June, 1823, Gourra's soldiers mutinied for their arrears 
 of pay, and made a secession to the temple of Theseus. Co- 
 lonel Stanhope mentions a second mutiny lor the same reason 
 in the last sprirjg. 
 
158 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 seem to destine themselves to a long continuance 
 of defensive warfare, which will become every suc- 
 ceeding year more irksome, more unpopular, and 
 more dangerous. 
 
 I know not whether Fortune, who has most sin- 
 gularly befriended the Greeks throughout all the 
 details of their Revolution, may have other and 
 more essential favours in store for them, — whether 
 she be secretly preparing any sudden change, mo- 
 ral, physical, or political, which shall put them 
 in possession at the same time of peace and inde- 
 pendence. For my own part, with circumstances 
 simply as they now exist, I should not be sorry to 
 see the quarrel arranged under European medi- 
 ation, in any manner which secured their advan- 
 tage, though it might offend their vanity; nor, 
 if I could ensure for them the reality of independ- 
 ence, would I dispute very obstinately about the 
 name : the thing once obtained, the name follows 
 as a matter of course. 
 
 To be a little better understood, I will give a 
 very short sketch of the kind of treaty, the con- 
 clusion of which might, I think, be affected by 
 any tolerable union among the mediating powers, 
 and of which the results would be entirely in fa- 
 vour of Greece, 
 
 1. The Greeks shall continue dependent on the 
 Sublime Porte, paying a nominal tribute. 
 
 2. All Western Greece south of Arta, all East- 
 
A VTSIT TO GREECE. 
 
 159 
 
 ern south of Thermopylie, the Morea, and all the 
 European Islands of the Archipelago, shall be left 
 entirely to their own Government, nor shall any 
 Turkish officer or soldier reside there on any pre- 
 text whatsoever. 
 
 3. Crete shall be retained by the Turks, (being, 
 in fact, entirely in their possession.) 
 
 4. The Greeks shall trade with all Turkish 
 ports, and shall enjoy the privileges of the most 
 favoured European flags. Their commerce shall 
 be placed under the protection of the ministers or 
 consuls of the mediating powers. 
 
 5. The trade of the Black Sea shall be open to 
 the Greeks, with the same privileges. 
 
 The flag, under which the Greeks should be al- 
 lowed to trade in Turkish ports, though a question 
 of apparent trifling importance, would probably 
 create some difficulty and discussion. In fact, in- 
 dependent, the Hellenes would ill brook the pro- 
 tection of the Crescent. Nominally dependent, 
 they would be expected to hoist the banner of 
 their Suzerain Lord the Sultan. However, this 
 point, from the analogy of the Barbary Powers, 
 must also be conceded by the Porte. 
 
 6. The mediating powers shall guarantee the 
 execution of the treaty. 
 
 Otherwise, the Turkish populace would murder 
 the crew of the first Greek vessel that ventured to 
 
160 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 enter their ports, and the Government would per- 
 mit or encourage the repetition of such outrages. 
 
 I cannot help thinking that some such arrange- 
 ment as the above is practicable, if the mediating 
 powers could be brought sincerely to unite for its 
 accomplishment. Its first effect would at least be 
 honourable to all parties, — the termination of a 
 miserable contest, marked by every species of hor- 
 ror and abomination, which is desolating one of 
 the fairest countries under Heaven, and which 
 reflects almost equal disgrace on the unhappy 
 wretches who are engaged in it, and on the spec- 
 tators, who possess, in unfeeling inactivity, the 
 means to arrest it *. 
 
 * See Appendix, Art. I. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 161 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Tripolizza, April, 1824. 
 
 When the continental cabinets of Europe shall at 
 last perceive, that there is no longer any prospect 
 of the subjugation or extirpation of the insurgents ; 
 when they shall at last be brought to confess, 
 that almost half a million of human beings whom 
 they have allowed to be sacrificed in their presence, 
 have poured forth their innocent blood in vain ; 
 and that the nerveless arm of the Sultan is unequal 
 to the task of restoring the social order of his do- 
 minions, — then, perhaps will the philanthropise 
 president of the Holy Alliance and its pacific and 
 social minister unite with the British Government 
 in the easy effort of obliging the Sublime Porte to 
 some sort of convention with its intractable rebels. 
 The nature and object of the convention will, 
 I trust, be some such as that of which I have ven- 
 tured to propose a sketch ; and, in that case, my 
 first and most ardent hopes with regard to Greece 
 will be realized. She will be virtually independent , 
 she will have leisure to improve her resources, to 
 fortify her frontiers, to regulate her navy, to re- 
 establish her commerce, and to double her popu- 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 lation ; for it cannot be doubted that numbers of 
 those Greeks, whom the treaty shall leave under 
 the Turkish Government, will emigrate with their 
 property, and settle among their autonomous 
 brethren. 
 
 Flattering as may appear this prospect of rapid 
 advancement to honour and happiness, one requi- 
 site only is necessary to secure it,— an honest and 
 vigorous Government. But how to establish this 
 Government ? Here opens an immeasurable field, 
 in which those who are fonder than myself of po- 
 litical speculation, may expatiate as widely as they 
 will. I enter it with extreme diffidence, and shall 
 escape from it as speedily as possible. 
 
 It is quite certain, that the great majority of the 
 nation is at this moment in favour of a constitu- 
 tional monarchy. But whom are they to select for 
 their monarch? No Greek can ever be generally 
 popular in Greece. Maurocordato is execrated by 
 the Capitani ; who, though they may soon cease to 
 be powerful as a party, will ever possess much 
 individual influence ; and I know not whether even 
 his warmest friends and admirers would go so far 
 as to make him their king. Demetrius Ypsilanti 
 has lost, by his want of energy, the confidence of 
 all parties. His brother Alexander is considered 
 an enthusiast, and Capo dTsirias a foreigner and a 
 Russian. The sceptre then seems destined to the 
 hand of no native. This objection, however, does 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 168 
 
 not appear to diminish the general inclination to 
 monarchy. Accustomed to the despotism of one, 
 the Greeks have thus far gained very little by their 
 change to polycracy ; every hour are they suffering 
 from the disunion and incurable contentiousness 
 of their chiefs; and they therefore rest their only 
 hope of organization and repose in the vigour and 
 impartiality of a foreign king. 
 
 As to the wisdom of this disposition, it may be 
 said, on the one hand, that nations are usually 
 much better judges of their own internal situation, 
 of their own wants, and the means of supplying 
 them, than distant spectators, or travellers hastily 
 traversing their country. On the other, that the 
 exactions of the Capitani, the license of the soldiers, 
 and the dangers of a lingering warfare, may have 
 irritated the Greeks into a wish to embrace any 
 sort of Government which shall promise to relieve 
 their present torments ; and that thus, in defiance 
 of all existing thories, which would condemn them 
 to the pvirest republicanism, they are hurrying 
 blindfold into the arms of monarchy. Without 
 venturing any decision on a matter of such import- 
 ance, I will say a few words on the present state of 
 parties, and the internal condition of the country. 
 
 The two great parties are, as usual, the Consti- 
 tutional and the Military. The former would 
 consolidate and organize the whole country; the 
 latter would partition it, and reign severally the 
 
 M 2 
 
164 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 despots of their own district. The primates, who 
 were at first a good deal divided, perceiving, at 
 length, that their own local influence is always 
 usurped by the Capitani, are now generally uniting 
 themselves to the other side, to which the expected 
 success of the loan will give a decided superiority. 
 
 The Capitani, who affect to consider the nego- 
 tiation of the loan as equivalent to the sale of the 
 Morea, call themselves Anti- Anglicans ; and, on 
 that account only, are stigmatized by their adver- 
 saries with the name of Russians; for I cannot 
 discover that there exists, in the whole country, 
 any party really Russian, or (I may add) really 
 English. 
 
 The chiefs of the Constitutionalists are accused 
 of ambition; those of the Military are convicted of 
 avarice. The more respectable party is, at any 
 rate, distinguished by the nobler passion. 
 
 But even that more respectable party, — is it 
 remarkable for honest and disinterested patriotism? 
 for union among its members, for political wisdom, 
 for practical knowledge, for any virtue or any 
 talent which would qualify it, (even in case of the 
 extinction of the Capitani,) to combine the vary- 
 ing interests, and direct the rising energies of 
 Greece? I sadly fear that it is not. Among its 
 leaders, some are primates, who have studied po- 
 litics under Turkish masters; others are Constan- 
 tinopolitans, instructed in the diplomacy of the 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 165 
 
 Eanal ; others arc full of European theories, but 
 are ignorant of the wants of their country. 
 
 Some, again, are Romeliotes, who proclaim, 
 among their rocks, the inutility of a naval force ; 
 others are islanders, who exclaim, with far more 
 justice, that the whole hope of the country is 
 placed in the navy ; others are Moraites, who, 
 posted in their impregnable passes, imagine them- 
 selves (in the absence of the enemy) independent 
 of all assistance. Every one considers his own 
 place (joTtos, he calls it) of paramount import- 
 ance to every other, and that its particular inte- 
 rests should be chiefly or exclusively attended to. 
 What then are we to expect from a Government so 
 constituted ? Expedients, temporization, conten- 
 tiousness, imbecility. 
 
 After all that has been said and written on that 
 most prolific subject, Greek character, we may at 
 least be allowed to assume that the Greeks have 
 some character, — that they have certain qualities 
 which, from peculiar prevalence among them, may 
 be called national ; and among these it will not be 
 disputed that one of the most distinguishing is a 
 keen, active, suspicious jealousy. It is for this 
 reason that we find them all at war with each 
 other ; that almost every man distrusts and detests 
 his neighbour ; and that a body of Greeks are less 
 qualified for any act of cordial co-operation than a 
 body of any other existing people. 
 
166 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 And will those who admit their characteristic 
 virtues and vices obtrude upon them a preparation 
 of maxims and principles which are found to suit 
 nations of an opposite character, or of no cha- 
 racter ? Because a Swiss or an American is disco- 
 vered to be capable of enduring a republic, are we 
 therefore to let loose into the same field the jealous, 
 disorderly, and impatient Greek ? I shall submit, 
 till I am better informed, to the authority which 
 teaches us that " Men are qualified for civil liberty 
 in exact proportion to their disposition to put 
 moral chains upon their appetites ; in proportion as 
 their love of justice is above their rapacity/'' fyc. fyc. 
 
 If there be any truth in this principle, I cannot 
 flatter myself that the Greek people is yet qualified 
 for a democratic form of government. 
 
 Let us imagine them liberated from the fear of 
 Turkish invasion, — a fear which, though no longer 
 very pressing, still holds them in some little re- 
 straint ; and let them be left to the arrangement of 
 their own domestic affairs in the most perfect secu- 
 rity ; I should tremble lest their era of indepen- 
 dence (be it perpetual !) should open with some 
 terrible scene of civil discord ; lest the conflict- 
 ing opinions and feelings by which they are ani- 
 mated should break forth into uncontrollable con- 
 tention, and the supposed variety of interests pro- 
 duce perpetual dissonance and convulsion. The 
 Capitani would not omit so favourable an opportu- 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 167 
 
 nity to revive their right of oppression ; Petro Bey 
 would establish himself independent lord of Maina ; 
 Odysseus would usurp, with more address, the 
 virtual sovereignty of Eastern Greece ; Coloco- 
 troni and his satellites would increase the uproar, 
 and profit by the confusion, — a confusion which 
 would, probably, be worse confounded by a daily 
 importation of theories, lectures, and exhortations, 
 from the Phil-hellenic societies of the West. 
 
 Yet, even under these circumstances, there would 
 be some sources of hope for this distracted country. 
 Her peasantry is manly and intelligent, and, hi- 
 therto, uncorrupted ; illiterate, indeed, and unin- 
 structed, it might still be brought to understand 
 the real interests of Greece, and be roused to sup- 
 port and enforce them. There are, too, some few 
 honest men and skilful politicians already enlisted 
 under the banners of patriotism ; their numbers 
 would be augmented by the addition of those now 
 resident in Europe. But, above all, the circum- 
 stances of discord which now appear so very pro- 
 bable, might at last never come to pass, or speedily 
 roll away ; and no one will affect to doubt that it is 
 eminently for the advantage of Greece to govern 
 herself, if she possess the power of self-govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Let me not, then, be misunderstood : I would 
 on no account obtrude upon Greece a government 
 to which she is disinclined ; I would send her no 
 
168 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 foreigner, as king or counsellor, except on her own 
 repeated solicitation. My first wish, and that, I 
 think, of every man who loves Greece better than 
 his own fancies, is to behold her emancipated from 
 the Turkish yoke, breathing in security, and re- 
 posing from her miseries. My next, is to see her 
 rising to prosperity, under a Greek government. 
 The former is of easy accomplishment ; a single 
 effort of sincere union between England and Russia, 
 with Austria, (or without Austria) would be suffi- 
 cient to effect it ; but I have many fears respecting 
 the practicability of the latter. A Greek monarchy, 
 in the absence of any hereditary family, and of any 
 individual of commanding pre-eminence, is of very 
 difficult establishment. A Greek republic, in the 
 dearth of almost every virtue on which permanent 
 republicanism reposes, appears nearly impossible. 
 
 However, if Greece be disposed to risk the ex- 
 periment, let no one interfere to prevent it : such 
 interference would be contrary to every wise and 
 just principle; but if the attempt should prove too 
 arduous for her feeble and unassisted infancy, let 
 her receive, on her own voluntary application, from 
 some land of maturer polity, a virtuous prince, 
 who, with the support of her excellent constitution, 
 may conduct her to tranquillity and happiness. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 169 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Xante, April, 1824. 
 
 I have not visited Misolonghi ; partly on account 
 of the extremely repulsive nature of the place itself, 
 and its entire destitution of any thing to interest 
 the imagination or the memory, and partly because 
 it has been lately so thronged with English and other 
 Phil-hellenes, that the real condition of the pro- 
 vince must be known to many, and might be 
 known to all. The few particulars which I am 
 enabled to give respecting it, were collected here 
 and at Athens. 
 
 Western Greece embraces the district of Acar- 
 nania, Etolia, and part of Epirus; its northern 
 limits are, of course, continually varying, according 
 to the motions or repose of the Albanian enemy : 
 the eastern extend to the neighbourhood of Salona; 
 it being true that Arta and Prevesa on the one 
 side, and Lepanto on the other, remain, and have 
 continually remained, in the possession of the 
 Turks. 
 
 This province was connected more closely than 
 any other with the destinies of Ali Pasha, and may 
 be said to have been the only sufferer by his 
 
no 
 
 A VISIT TO CIItEECE. 
 
 destruction. The first efforts of the victorious 
 Ottoman were directed against it, and the summer 
 of 1822, which seems to have decided the inde- 
 pendence of the Morea, was marked in western 
 Greece only by defeat and calamity. The battles 
 of Placca and Petta were succeeded by the capitu- 
 lation of Sulli, and the conquerors advanced to the 
 walls of the capital. 
 
 Misolonghi is situated on low and marshy 
 ground, some miles to the eastward of the mouth 
 of the Achelous or Aspropotano; unprepared for 
 attack, and almost without the means of defence, 
 it reposed its hopes in the genius and courage of 
 its defenders. For it has been the singular good 
 fortune of that most unattractive city to be placed 
 at different periods under the peculiar protection of 
 four men, various in talents and character, but 
 equally sincere and generous in their exertions for 
 the liberation of Greece, — Alexander Maurocor- 
 dato, Marco Bozzaris, General Normann, and 
 Lord Byron. The two last, indeed, have fallen 
 victims to their^own zeal, or to the ingratitude of a 
 pestilential climate; the prayers of the Suliote 
 were more nearly accorded, for he fell by the hand 
 of a Mussulman, in the moment of victory*. 
 Prince Maurocordato is still preserved to the hopes 
 
 * Marco Bozzaris was killed at the battle of Carpenissi, in 
 the August of 1823. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 171 
 
 and vows of his country, and to the friendship of 
 every friend of honest and practicahle patriotism. 
 
 Misolonghi was saved; after an unsuccessful 
 attack, the Albanians returned to their homes, and 
 during- the spring following the Greeks re-occupied 
 the country as far as Vonitza; but about mid- 
 summer the enemy again advanced, and notwith- 
 standing their loss at Carpenissi, (a loss more than 
 compensated to them by the death of Bozzaris) 
 they succeeded in again possessing themselves of 
 the country, and penetrating to the capital. 
 
 It is true that they again retired, as innoxious as 
 before; and so utterly are they uninstructed in 
 the art of war, and so nearly unsusceptible of im- 
 provement, that any similar effort which they may 
 hereafter make will, without any doubt, terminate 
 in similar discomfiture. But if the city be in se- 
 curity, the country has been proved open to the 
 annual occupation of the invader; and thus, strict- 
 ly speaking, the province of Western Greece is 
 confined to the walls of Misolonghi. 
 
 With respect to population, it is ever so very diffi- 
 cult, by the minutest personal inquiries, to arrive 
 at any tolerable degree of certainty in any part of 
 Greece, that I can speak with little confidence re- 
 specting that of a district which I have never visited, 
 and which is subject to perpetual fluctuation. I am 
 assured, that during the second siege nearly forty 
 thousand souls were collected in the city, and that 
 
172 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 this number comprehended the great majority of 
 the villagers and mountaineers, who had fled to 
 the only place of security. We may, then, calcu- 
 late the whole population of the province at sixty 
 thousand; and I am the more inclined to attach 
 credit to this estimate, because my own inquiries 
 in Attica respecting the physical force of Eastern 
 Greece, led me very nearly to the same result. 
 Many fugitives from both these districts are to be 
 found, as soldiers or shepherds, in the cities or on 
 the mountains of the Morea. 
 
 Of a province so situated, it would be absurd to 
 discuss the revenues ; indeed, it is too well known 
 that the operations of its illustrious Governor have 
 been continually restrained or prevented by ex- 
 treme poverty, — poverty which he shares, indeed, 
 with the most indigent of his countrymen, but 
 which, however honourable to himself, is to them 
 productive only of misery and helplessness. 
 
 I am not exactly aware of the extent of the 
 advantages which Misolonghi has yet derived from 
 the patronage of the " Greek Committee."" The 
 foundation of arsenals and hospitals is at least cre- 
 ditable to the zeal and humanity of the founders; 
 and as long as they shall be supported by the 
 liberality which has established them, they will 
 ever be productive of some local utility. But the 
 more pressing wants of Greece are, unfortunately, 
 of a nature which is not affected by such institu- 
 
A VISIT TO CItEECE. 
 
 173 
 
 tions. Money, indeed, will easily supply her ex- 
 ternal and physical necessities; and for that pur- 
 pose (it cannot be repeated too often)- she asks no 
 aid except money; but there is a moral poverty 
 besides, engendering vanity, jealousy, insubordina- 
 tion, ingratitude, attended by a certain reluctance 
 even to benefit by proffered favours; there is a 
 beggary of wisdom and probity, which can only be 
 relieved by patient education and discipline, intro- 
 duced and sustained by an efficient and honest go- 
 vernment. I should be sorry to discourage the en- 
 thusiasm of any friends of Greece ; yet let them not 
 be surprised, should they discover that the practical 
 advantages resulting from their honourable exertions 
 have been very partial, and very disproportionate 
 to the means employed to produce them. 
 
 The late establishment of two newspapers at 
 Misolonghi is attributed to the zeal of Colonel 
 Stanhope. The first is called the Hellenic Chro- 
 nicle, and is decidedly republican ; it is written in 
 Greek; I was at Athens when the first number 
 arrived there; Odysseus and Gourrah were thrown 
 into consternation, and being themselves unable to 
 comprehend its contents, they sent down to the 
 city for some learned persons to interpret them. 
 Publications addressed to persons incapable of un- 
 derstanding them, if they can be productive of no 
 great utility, will at least do very little injury; and 
 on this account, I believe the paper in question to 
 
174 
 
 A VISIT TO GTlEECE. 
 
 be nearly * harmless. The Greek Telegraph is a 
 Polyglolt, and as it is written with moderation, and 
 contains rather more truth than is usually pub- 
 lished respecting the affairs of Greece, its extensive 
 circulation in Europe, if practicable, would pro- 
 bably prove beneficial to the cause; but sufficient 
 means have not been adopted, I fear, to effect that 
 object. 
 
 In spite of all that has been said and written to 
 the contrary, I am of opinion that the personal 
 service of foreigners in Greece is still, as it ever 
 has been, entirely useless. Those who present 
 themselves with arms and rules of discipline are 
 despised and maltreated; their tactics are ridi- 
 culed, and themselves condemned to starvation. 
 Those who import theories and principles ready 
 cut and dried in the West, soon perceive, or ought 
 to perceive, that their counsels are inapplicable to 
 the state of the country, and impracticable. Those 
 who would introduce schools, and laboratories, and 
 hospitals, are considered to be innocent enthusiasts, 
 who have sadly mistaken the moment for their 
 exertions. The few who have brought money are 
 
 * Lord Byron, 1 find, was not of the same opinion. " I hope 
 (says he) that the Press will succeed better there (at Athens) 
 than it has here (at Misolonghi). The Greek newspaper has 
 done great mischief both in the Morea and in the Islands, as 
 I represented, both to Prince Maurocordato and to Colonel Stan- 
 hope, that it would do, in the present circumstances, unless 
 great caution was observed." — Stauhojws Greece, p. 126. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 m 
 
 allowed to spend it, indeed, but not without great 
 jealousy and suspiciousness from the very persons 
 who are devouring it as a spoil or a right*. 
 
 No one had better reason to feel and acknow* 
 ledge this truth than the noble Phil-hellene whose 
 untimely loss is more deeply deplored, than his 
 services were properly appreciated. During the 
 few months of his residence at Misolonghi what 
 strange perversity and opposition did not even he 
 encounter, from the people whom he was sustaining 
 by his generosity, and f u among whom and for 
 whom 11 he had resolved to lay down his life ! Some 
 thought that he aimed at the Monarchy of Greece, 
 others that he was an agent of Government, charged 
 to buy the country ; and almost all were convinced 
 that he had some private design which would here- 
 after develop itself. So difficult is it for any 
 people to understand the nature, or credit the 
 
 * On the other hand, I am far from denying that if there be 
 any distinguished Greeks resident in Europe, who are at the 
 same time zealous patriots, practical statesmen, and honest 
 men, their presence and cordial co-operation would confer very 
 essential benefits on their country, but were are such Greeks 
 to be found ? 
 
 t A funeral oration was pronounced at Misolonghi, in honour 
 of Lord Byron, by Spyridion Tricoupes, formerly (if I am rightly 
 informed) Secretary to Lord Guilford. It contains these words, 
 — ■ HXfav, il; iia Aoyov, Kara. <rhv [laprvpiuv rail oikiomuv tov, fti a.To- 
 (pairiv ' ik utfoiur/i il; rr.v 'EAX«S« S/as <r?jx 'EXXaSa.' 
 
 A part of the oration, which is of considerable length, will 
 be found very literally translated in the Appendix. 
 
176 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 existence, of virtues of which the practice is un- 
 known to them. 
 
 Lord Byron for some time meditated an offen- 
 sive operation against Lepanto, in which he in- 
 tended personally to conduct the Suliotes whom 
 he had taken into his pay, rather than his service. 
 Arta was afterwards mentioned as better suited to 
 the taste of his capricious mountaineers. Neither 
 Arta nor * Lepanto were ever molested ; the mo- 
 ment for action passed rapidly away, and his Lord- 
 ship's wisest and noblest intentions were continually 
 frustrated, by the impracticability and ingratitude 
 of the objects of his exertions. 
 
 To another point his efforts were not less zea- 
 lously directed. An endeavour to civilize, in some 
 degree, the barbarous nature of the contest, and 
 to introduce between the conflicting parties some 
 sort of reciprocation of humane and generous of- 
 fices ; and here he seems to have encountered 
 almost equal difficulties. On one occasion, he 
 redeemed, at his own expense, a number of Turk- 
 ish slaves, and restored them to liberty, address- 
 ing, at the same time, a very courteous letter 
 to Yussuff Pacha. The Turk thanked him, and 
 asked for a repetition of this favour. 
 
 *" The Suliotes declined marching against Lepanto, saying, 
 ' that they would not light against stone walls. 1 Colonel Stan- 
 hope also knows their conduct here, in other respects, lately 
 N. B." — Stanhope's Greece, p. 121. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 177 
 
 However, Lord Byron must have been too well 
 acquainted with the character of both parties, to 
 indulge any hope of the immediate reform of either. 
 He continued, therefore, to tread, with abated ar- 
 dour, perhaps, but with undeviating resolution, 
 the path which his enthusiasm had marked out for 
 him, and which might have conducted him to 
 much honour, had it not terminated so abruptly 
 and so lamentably. 
 
173 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 XX. 
 
 Zante, April, 1824. 
 
 Before I take my last look at the snowy tops of 
 Olenus and Erymanth, and bid adieu to the oppo- 
 site Morea, with its mountains, peaks, and pro- 
 montories, for ever, I will devote a few moments 
 to a short description of the actual extent and force 
 of the Hellenic Republic, and, by a comparison of 
 its present state with its condition in the beginning 
 of 1822, we shall best learn how far the Greeks 
 are progressive, and how far we may look forward 
 with confidence to their ultimate emancipation, by 
 their own unassisted exertions. 
 
 In Western Greece, we have just seen that there 
 exists, at this moment, no point of defence except 
 Misolonghi. The whole country is open to the 
 occupation of the enemy, and the Suliotes are ra- 
 ther disturbing than protecting the capital. 
 
 Two years ago, Suli was still in possession of 
 its inhabitants ; and a respectable corps of disci- 
 plined Phil-hellenes, under General Normann, were 
 employed in the defence of the country : through 
 the treachery or cowardice of the Greek soldiers, 
 who were united with them, and who deserted 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 179 
 
 them in the instant of danger, these brave men pe- 
 rished. There is no visible set-off against these 
 losses. The insurrection has not extended, and 
 every fortress remains, as heretofore, in the hands 
 of the Turks. 
 
 In Eastern Greece, the limits of independence 
 have even been contracted. In 1822, the Eubceans 
 and Olympians were in arms, and Odysseus was 
 engaged in an offensive operation (however unsuc- 
 cessful) against Zeitoun. At present, both Eu- 
 boea and Mount Olympus are perfectly tranquil, 
 no offensive operations against Thessaly are even 
 meditated, and the very passes of Thermopylae, 
 the farthest northern frontiers of Hellas, are not 
 regularly defended. However, some compensation 
 has been in this instance afforded by the reduction 
 of the Acropolis of Athens. 
 
 The islands remain nearly as they were, with 
 the exception of * Scio ; the most wealthy and the 
 most populous spot in Greece, which, if revolu- 
 tionized at a more favourable moment, and pro- 
 tected by the union of the insurgents, might have 
 become one of the most powerful members of the 
 Republic, has been cut off and destroyed almost 
 utterly. The other Asiatic islands, as Cos, Rhodes, 
 
 * That of Euboea is so nearly connected with the interests of 
 the continent, that I have considered it (I know not how cor- 
 rectly) as a part of Eastern Greece. 
 
 N 2 
 
180 
 
 A VISIT TO CItEECE. 
 
 and Mitylene, where a considerable proportion of 
 the population are Turks, still remain undisturbed, 
 under the Turkish Government. 
 
 Of the five divisions of modern Hellas, which 
 were published by the Government early in 1822, 
 Crete alone was then deemed worthy to form one ; 
 indeed, the greater portion of the island was at that 
 time in insurrection, and the Turks were nearly 
 confined to the walls of their fortresses. Crete 
 may now be considered as entirely lost: over- 
 whelmed by the Egyptians of Mehemed AH*, and 
 broken by internal dissensions, even the hardiest of 
 the insurgents are believed to confine their resist- 
 ance to the defence of the mountain in the interior 
 of the island. The rich and extensive plains, which 
 constitute the real value of the country, have been 
 re-occupied by the enemy -j*. 
 
 In the Morea, the very centre of insurrection, 
 
 * Ibrahim Pasha, who commands the present expedition 
 against the Morea, is the only remaining son of Mehemed Alt. 
 It is well known, that his brother Ismael, who commanded the 
 expedition into Ethiopia was there assassinated ; but the cir- 
 cumstances of his death are not of general notoriety; and they 
 are so extremely interesting, that I will not lose this oppor- 
 tunity of making them public. For the Account, which will 
 be found in the Appendix, 1 am obliged to the kindness of 
 Lord Strangford. 
 
 ♦ Since that period, I have learnt that even the Sphakiotes 
 have been reduced to submission. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 181 
 
 the Greeks have made no other visible progress 
 during the last two years, than by the taking of 
 Napoli. Navarino, Tripolizza, and # Corinth, 
 Avere already in their hands ; while Modon, Coron, 
 and Patras, still continue in the power of the 
 Turks, nor is there any appearance of preparation 
 to molest them. 
 
 From this comparison, we perceive, that the 
 insurgents, so far from having made the rapid 
 progress which is ascribed to them by the flattery 
 of their admirers, have actually lost ground; 
 they have lost Scio, and whatever influence they 
 possessed in Euboea ; they have lost every thing 
 to the north of Thermopylae ; and last, and worst 
 of all, they have lost Crete. The reduction of 
 the Acropolis of Athens, and of Napoli di Ro- 
 mania, are the only substantial advantages whicli 
 they can oppose to so considerable a diminution of 
 territory f. 
 
 The internal condition of the country was at 
 
 * Corinth, which they afterwards lost to Dramali Pasha 
 they have since retaken. 
 
 t The destruction of I'sara, and the greater part of its fleet, 
 and about a third of its population, may now be added to this 
 melancholy list of misfortunes, ill compensated by successes, 
 which, with somewhat of brilliancy, have been followed by no 
 important military consequences. I am happy to have learnt, 
 that the Greek Government has given the excellent harbour and 
 fortress of Napoli di Malvasia to be a new home to the sur- 
 vivors. 
 
182 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 least as promising in the commencement of 1822, 
 as at this moment. The Government was the 
 same, or nearly so, with this advantage, that 
 Maurocordato was then at its head ; the power of 
 the Capitani was not then so clearly defined, nor 
 their hostility to the constitution so decided; 
 party and personal animosities were not then so 
 general or so violent. 
 
 Are we then from these facts to conclude, that 
 the hopes of Greece are suffering a gradual dimi- 
 nution, and decaying year by year? That the 
 insurrection is less vigorous, because it is less 
 extensive, and that a few more efforts would suf- 
 fice to crush it altogether ? I am very far removed 
 from that opinion. A few extremities have indeed 
 been lopped away, but the heart is grown stouter 
 and warmer. By the loss of some parts of the 
 Confederacy, the * population of the rest has been 
 augmented and concentrated; and a spirit has 
 grown up among them, which would render their 
 extermination very difficult, and their submission 
 
 * I made every inquiry in every part of Greece respecting 
 population, without ever arriving at any very satisfactory 
 result, 1 am, however, strongly of opinion, that the whole 
 number of actual insurgents is somewhat under one million. 
 I should estimate the population of Eastern and Western Greece 
 at one hundred and fifty thousand ; that of the independent 
 islands, including refugees, at two hundred and fifty thousand ; 
 and that of the Morea at half a million. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 impossible. They have acquired the habit of 
 independence; they have learned to despise and 
 scorn their former master, and they have not 
 ceased to detest him ; in energy, in talents, in 
 courage, they assert or feel their own superiority ; 
 and it is this feeling which, in spite of all their 
 vices and their follies, preserves, and will still 
 preserve them. 
 
184 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Corfu, May, 1824. 
 
 The enemies of British honour and prosperity, of 
 whatever country or climate, believe themselves 
 to be provided with an unfailing source of misre- 
 presentation and calumny in the administration of 
 the Ionian Islands. There exists not a political 
 scribbler in France, Italy, Germany, or England, 
 who does not feel justified in venting some unmean- 
 ing slander on a system of whose principles he is 
 utterly ignorant, or on the character of the singu- 
 lar and excellent man who established that system. 
 He, indeed, is now secure from all human hostility, 
 but the spirit which animated the work of his erec- 
 tion is not extinct ; it survives, and will long sur- 
 vive him, and the machine will continue to act 
 with undiminished power, under the guidance of 
 his distinguished friend and successor. 
 
 It is not, however, my intention to enter at this 
 moment into any of the details of the Ionian Govern- 
 ment. It is sufficient for me, at present, to rejoice 
 at the emancipation of an improving and intelligent 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 185 
 
 people from the most pernicious * aristocracy that 
 ever existed, — to observe the operation of the various 
 
 * The Ionian Government, under the Venetians, was an aristo- 
 cracy within an aristocracy ; pretty nearly as the late Govern- 
 ment of Walachia and Moldavia was a despotism within a 
 despotism. The object of both seems to have been to inflict on 
 the governed the perfection of misery. I believe, however, 
 after all, that the palm is due to the latter, and chiefly, for this 
 reason : the Boyars, being a very tranquil and unlitigious sort 
 of animal, conspired with great unanimity in promoting the 
 object of the Government. Not so the Ionian nobility ; they 
 were Greeks, and so we find them divided and irritated by a 
 thousand intrigues and jealousies. Hating their neighbours 
 almost as much as they loved themselves, they were obliged to 
 adopt some little moderation in the treatment of peasants, 
 whose services were necessary in feuds and broils. Yet I fear 
 that whatever the peasants thus gained in independence, they 
 lost in morality ; if the Walachian was more abject, the Ionian 
 was much more wicked. 
 
 A number of Ionians, educated in the Venetian school, and 
 unable to endure the severity of English discipline, are still to 
 be found scattered over all parts of the Levant, and are notori- 
 ous only for their pre-eminence in every description of disorder 
 and iniquity. 
 
 Those who calumniate the present Ionian Government always 
 assume, as an indisputable fact, its unpopularity ; nothing is 
 more false than this assumption. The great object to which 
 the practice of that Government has been steadily directed, is 
 the improvement of the people. The first step was to rescue 
 them from the tyranny of their nobility j the next has been gra- 
 dually to infuse a feeling of independence, and a confidence in 
 the impartiality of the laws ; when their character shall have 
 thus acquired some firmness and stability, they will merit and 
 receive an extension of their civil rights. 
 
 If the word popularity have any meaning whatever, the very 
 
186 
 
 A VISIT tO GREECE. 
 
 laws enacted for that purpose, — to see the peasant 
 fearlessly face his former tyrant in the courts of 
 Ionian justice, and to hear complaints of English 
 despotism, and sighs after the mild administration of 
 Russia, uttered only by those sad sufferers who 
 have been deprived of the right of oppression, and 
 the privilege of plunder. It is sufficient for me to 
 perceive in the country and villages an increase of 
 cultivation, convenience, and population ; to be 
 assured of the great diminution of crimes, and to 
 observe the people rapidly progressive in wealth, 
 morality, and civilization. Such, at least, are not 
 among the usual consequences of misgovernment, 
 
 If the general conduct of the Ionian Govern- 
 ment has been assailed with much virulence, it was 
 not probable that its operations under the par- 
 
 outcry which has been raised by certain Ionians against their 
 Government proves its popularity ; for these persons being, 
 almost without exception., connected with the first families in 
 the Islands, and retaining- all the insolence of aristocracy, with- 
 out the power any longer to vent it on their subjects, cherish, 
 no doubt with sincere regret, the recollection of the good old 
 days of Venetian and Russian " liberty," — for what was slavery to 
 the people was to them liberty. Their vociferations, when wo 
 understand the cause of them, will no longer astonish us, — they 
 are only the ravings of disarmed oppression ; and we shall 
 easily console ourselves for their censures by the reflection that 
 the mass and multitude of the Ionian people have gained in in- 
 dependence and virtue, what these brawlers have lost in licen- 
 tiousness and tyranny, and are enjoying their advantages deeply, 
 though silently. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 187 
 
 ticularly difficult circumstances in which it has I 821 
 been placed by the present war, should pass with- 
 out reprehension. How much or how little justice 
 has attended such censure, will be best ascertained, 
 if I trace, as far as I am in possession of the facts, 
 the line which it has professed to adopt, and exa- 
 mine with what fidelity it has pursued that line. 
 
 The first blood was shed in the Morea on the 
 4th of April, 1 821 ; on the 9th of the same month 
 appeared a proclamation addressed to all Ionian 
 subjects resident among the insurgents, which in- 
 formed them that any interference in the insurrec- 
 tion would be punished by the forfeiture of British 
 protection. So very natural a measure requires no 
 comment whatsoever. 
 
 On the 2d of May, Ali, the Capitan Bey, de- 
 clared the Morea, some ports excepted, in a state 
 of blockade; and on the 7th a proclamation was 
 published at Corfu, acknowledging that blockade, 
 and commanding the observation of it. No one, I 
 believe, was surprised at this act except Petro Bey, 
 of Maina, who was then " Commander of the Pe- 
 loponnesian armies assembled at Calamata." That 
 patriot ventured to express his feelings in a remon- 
 strance, dated " May 12th, (24th,) First Year of 
 Liberty ." — " We observe (says he) with much 
 " astonishment that the patriotic Ionian Govern- 
 " ment should give effect to this proposition of 
 • the Turks. For if we are to look upon it as an- 
 
188 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 " act due to them as a national right, (as it would 
 " appear from the nominal exception of ports ima- 
 " gined by them to be under the Turkish domi- 
 " nion) we shall fall under the unjust imputation 
 " of being engaged in an unlawful rebellion, which 
 " is doubtless so understood in notifying a blockade 
 " established under a false idea." 
 
 He concludes by inviting the Ionian Senate to 
 re-consider the matter ; but as his invitation was 
 supported by no better reasoning * than such as I 
 have quoted, we shall not wonder that it was in- 
 effectual. 
 
 The act decisive of the policy of the Ionian 
 Government was published on the 7th of June; it 
 was a proclamation of the strictest neutrality , ex- 
 pressed in the clearest and most unequivocal lan- 
 guage. This measure would seem at first sight to 
 have been directed chiefly against the party to 
 which the Ionians were most disposed to have 
 offered their assistance. It will appear, however, 
 that its effects were in practice equally felt by both 
 parties; its principle was decidedly favourable to 
 the Greeks. The very term neutrality acknow- 
 
 * A letter addressed by the Capudan Bey to the Lord High 
 Commissioner, about the same time and on the same subject, 
 rivals in reasoning; the production of this I.aconian adversary: 
 — " The rebellion of the Greeks (says the loyal Mussulman) 
 " being: an atrocious act of anarchy, is hated by all the nations 
 " which have a head or monarch, because all kings are averse 
 "' to rebels." 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 189 
 
 ledged them as Belligerents, and the same word 
 which forbade our Ionian subjects to aid their in- 
 surgent brethren, prevented them equally from 
 rendering any service to a power in amity with 
 England, and involved in dangerous intestine war- 
 fare. The friendly Government and its rebellious 
 subjects were regarded, by this public act, in precisely 
 the same light ; and no demonstration of favour was 
 denied to the latter, which was not equally prohi- 
 bited to the former. We shall presently see how 
 far the system thus proclaimed was fairly and 
 impartially enforced. 
 
 The first difficulty appears to have been created 
 by the residence of the Suliote families in the 
 Islands. It will be recollected that when Ali 
 Pasha, in 1803, succeeded at length in obtaining 
 possession of Suli, the surviving inhabitants re- 
 tired to the Ionian Isles. On the rebellion of their 
 persecutor, in 1820, he restored to them their 
 native rocks and fortresses on the condition of their 
 making common cause with him, against the Grand 
 Seignior. The Suliotes accepted the proposal, and 
 returned to their country, taking the precaution, 
 however, to leave their wives and children for the 
 present, in the asylum which their misfortunes had 
 secured for them. Hourshid Pasha appears to 
 have suffered severely from the assaults of these 
 unrestrained warriors, and therefore despatched a 
 letter to Sir Thomas Maitland, about the end of 
 
190 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 June, warmly engaging him " Either to recall the 
 " Suliotes into the Islands, and thus make them 
 M British subjects, or to dismiss the women and 
 " children to the Continent, that thus having no 
 " further hope of refuge, they may return to their 
 " allegiance to the Sublime Porte." Other simi- 
 lar demands, as well as applications for arms and 
 ammunition, seem during this period to have been 
 continually repeated by the Turkish officers, on 
 the ground of " the inviolable friendship subsist- 
 " ing between the Sublime Porte and the British 
 " Government," and to have been, on almost every 
 occasion, rejected by the Lord High Commissioner. 
 Very shortly afterwards, two acts of very flagrant 
 violation of neutrality, on the part of lonians, 
 called again for the interference of the Government. 
 Certain armed vessels (those of Dionysio Flocca 
 and one Graniachiessi are mentioned) took part 
 with the insurgents in open hostility against the 
 Turks. They were declared by •proclamation 
 guilty of piracy, and were threatened, in case of 
 seizure, with the usual 'punishment of that of- 
 fence. A severe measure was at this moment 
 obviously necessary, and that which was adopted 
 cannot be charged with injustice. What milder 
 name than piracy shall we apply to the crime of 
 those who, in defiance of the orders of their Go- 
 vernment, attacked, in open sea, the vessels of a 
 friendly power? 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 191 
 
 The other act, of which I must relate the cir- 
 cumstances at greater length, inflicted an insult 
 still more audacious on the commands of the Ionian 
 authorities. Several natives of Zante and Ce- 
 phalonia had passed over into the Morea at the 
 beginning of the insurrection, and were notoriously 
 in arms against the Ottoman Government. Hi- 
 therto, however, they had abstained from any 
 public notification of their proceedings, and were, 
 therefore, only liable to the penalty ordained by 
 the proclamation of the 7th of April, namely, the 
 forfeiture of British protection.' Presently, in- 
 flamed, as it would seem, by such apparent leni- 
 ency, their leaders addressed a formal summons 
 of capitulation to the Lalliotes, against whom they 
 were principally engaged. It was forwarded by 
 the Lalliotes to Yussuf Pasha, at the castles of 
 the Morea, who sent it, without loss of time, to 
 Corfu. It began as follows: 
 
 " From us, Chiefs of the Cephalonians and 
 Zantiotes, to you, the Noble Agas, and re- 
 maining Chiefs of the Lalliotes. 1 ' 
 
 " According to the orders of the Grand General 
 of the Greeks, Alexander Ypsilanti, who has con- 
 quered the whole of Walachia, Moldavia, and 
 Constantinople, and the other parts of the Levant, 
 we present ourselves here in the Morea, charged to 
 offer you peace by treaty, such as the laws of 
 
192 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 Europe prescribe, and we are even accompanied 
 by one of his relatives. If you oppose this treaty, 
 we are ready to give every succour and protection 
 to your enemies the Moraites, so that they may 
 destroy you with fire and sword ; and for such 
 purpose are we here, a thousand in number, with 
 all the necessaries of war, and six cannon, fyc. fyc. 
 
 From our Head Quarters, June 1, 1824. 
 
 (Signed) " MICHEL IPSILANTI, Constants nopolit an. 
 C. METAXA. VANGELI PANA. 
 
 J. FOCCA. DIONYSIO SEMBRICO 
 
 ANDREA METAXA. PANAGIOTTI STRUSA . 
 MATTEO CONTUFA, Interpreter and Secretary." 
 
 The Ionian Government was no sooner made 
 acquainted with this impudent outrage on its au- 
 thority, than it published a proclamation, sum- 
 moning the six chiefs and their secretary to re- 
 turn within a fortnight to their country, to be 
 tried for their offence, on pain of perpetual 
 banishment and confiscation of property. All the 
 Ionian subjects who had been seduced to fol- 
 low them, were also commanded to return in- 
 stantly to the bosom of their families. I am not 
 aware that any one of the chiefs obeyed these 
 summons ; the sentence was, therefore, carried into 
 effect against them all. The two Metaxas have, 
 since that period, acquired some distinction in the 
 service of the Greek republic. Constantino dis- 
 played great military talents and energy in the 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 193 
 
 defence of Anatolico, in the autumn of 1823 ; and 
 Andrea was perhaps the ablest and most liberal 
 member of the late anti-constitutional Executive; 
 but the dislike to established government (or rather 
 the personal enmity to the great organizer of 
 Greece) which distinguishes them both, will pro- 
 bably prevent them from acquiring, in their 
 adopted country, the estimation and property 
 which they have for ever forfeited in their native 
 island *. 
 
 To those who speculate, at their leisure, on the 
 feelings and actions of others, it is an easy and 
 agreeable employment to justify or excuse any 
 extravagance of virtuous enthusiasm. For us, who 
 are influenced in our impassioned judgments, by 
 a thousand considerations of religion, liberty, pa- 
 triotism, it is not difficult even to admire the con- 
 duct of the contumacious exiles, — it is, at least, 
 impossible not to lament their fate. But those who 
 write may yield to any feeling, while those who act 
 must only think and reason. The hand of power 
 must not be directed by passion or imagination. 
 Governments " cannot afford to be chivalrous and 
 romantic" 
 
 The following autumn was distinguished by more 
 acts of insubordination among the restless Ionian s. 
 The Parganotes, who were some years ago ad- 
 
 * Cephallonia. 
 
 Mgi 
 
194. 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 mitted to the privileges of Ionian citizenship, 
 thought this moment favourable for the recovery 
 of their country, and «et sail in a body for that 
 purpose, in defiance of the proclaimed neutrality. 
 The Government, however, contented itself with 
 prohibiting their return to the islands ; and, as 
 their attempt was defeated by the Turks, they 
 were exposed, for the time, to considerable distress 
 and danger. 
 
 Since that period, however, as the revolutionary 
 ferment gradually abated, many of them have pri- 
 vately returned ; and I believe that it would be 
 difficult to produce one instance, in which refugees 
 from the continent, of whatever name or descrip- 
 tion, when actually proved to be homeless and 
 friendless, have been refused an asylum in the 
 Ionian Islands. 
 
 About the same time, the island of Cerigo (Cy- 
 thsera) became the scene of one of the most brutal 
 transactions that has disgraced any Revolution; 
 and the future Hellenist historian will perhaps 
 find some consolation in being able to record, 
 that the perpetrators of it were not Hellenes but 
 Ionians. 
 
 The fortress of Napoli di Malvasia capitulated 
 about the end of August to Prince Cantacuzeno, 
 on condition that the garrison should be trans- 
 ported to some Turkish harbour. The capitula- 
 tion was observed, and the neighbouring Cerigo 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 19* 
 
 was allowed to serve as a kind of receptacle for 
 the Turks, till they should be sent forward to 
 Crete. Some had already arrived there, and, on 
 the afternoon of one Saturday in September, a 
 boat appeared on the north-east side of the island* 
 (that most distant from the town and garrison), 
 containing forty-one others. Of this number, seven 
 only were men. A messenger was immediately 
 despatched by them to the governor to request per- 
 mission to land. 
 
 The inhabitants were engaged in the celebration 
 of one of their numerous festivals, — a religious fes- 
 tival of course, and attended, as is usual among 
 Greeks, with that light-hearted hilarity, which is 
 generally not unfriendly to acts of humanity; 
 though, in this case, it would appear, that the 
 design, suggested by the mere helplessness of the 
 Turks, was immediately formed, and embraced 
 with no opposition. The Turkish messenger was 
 detained, and, in due time, a fictitious order sent 
 down for the instant disembarkation of the pri- 
 soners. It was now growing dark, on which ac- 
 count, or from some latent suspicion of the trea- 
 chery that was intended them, the Turks were, 
 with great difficulty, prevailed upon to land. At 
 length, they obeyed, and moved along the sea- 
 shore, a weak, melancholy, and defenceless train. 
 But the moment for attack was not yet arrived. 
 Openly to have assaulted seven unarmed Turks, 
 
 02 
 
19G 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 and so numerous an assemblage of women and 
 children, would have been too hazardous an en- 
 terprise ! These Greeks would have thought their 
 design but imperfectly executed, unless, to perfidy 
 and barbarity, they had superadded cowardice. 
 They caused their victims to follow them among 
 some rocks, from behind which they fired upon 
 them. They intended, probably, by this dis- 
 charge, to murder only the men ; but, as the sun 
 was already set, and the moon was not then shining 
 with its usual oriental splendour, it is believed that 
 some of the women fell also, — and happy were 
 those women who so fell, — happy in their escape 
 from the most brutal insults that lust and * hatred 
 ever inflicted upon helpless misery. Their com- 
 panions were allowed to survive them just long 
 enough for the endurance of the worst outrage, 
 and were then murdered without exception, and 
 their bodies thrown into the sea. 
 
 So general was the conspiracy, even among the 
 innocent inhabitants, to conceal from the English 
 Government the abominable guilt of their c un- 
 trymen, that three days actually elapsed before 
 the Resident had any suspicion of the transaction, 
 
 # We cannot do justice to the barbarity of these ruflians, 
 except we recollect that, not for ages having been subject to the 
 despotism of the Turk, they are not at all sheltered by the 
 excuses which are usually thrown over the cruelties of their 
 continental brethren. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 197 
 
 and it was then accidentally discovered from the 
 conversation of some women to whom the secret 
 had been intrusted. The soldiers sent down to 
 the spot fovmd that the ground, where most blood- 
 stained, had been already ploughed up ; but great 
 quantities of hair, dyed of various colours, as is 
 the custom of Turkish women, still lay scattered 
 about, and tracked the road down to the beach 
 from the scene of massacre. Some of the ring- 
 leaders appear to have escaped to the Morea. 
 Twelve persons were tried, of whom five only 
 were executed. One of these was proved to have 
 ravished a very young girl, and stabbed her im- 
 mediately afterwards. 
 
 Nearly at the same time, a skirmish took place 
 off the island of Zante, between the hostile fleets, 
 in which a small Turkish vessel was driven on 
 shore. A party of ten or twelve soldiers were 
 sent, with an officer, to enforce the sanitary regu- 
 lations, and to conduct the Turks to the Lazza- 
 retto. In the mean time, a vast number of Greeks, 
 all in arms, had collected from various parts of the 
 island, and threatened to interfere with the soldiers 
 in the discharge of their duty ; they were or- 
 dered to fire * over the heads of the populace, and 
 the latter, entirely misunderstanding this civilized 
 
 * This story is told two or three different ways, even at Zante. 
 Some assure me, that the soldiers did not tire at all. 
 
198 
 
 A VISIT TO GREEC'K. 
 
 proceeding, returned the fire upon the soldiers. 
 The officer was severely wounded, and one private 
 killed ; and the Greeks, having obtained possession 
 of the body, mangled it horribly, transfixing the 
 head with the bayonet, and exhibiting other proofs 
 of insensate fury. The order was then issued to 
 disarm the inhabitants of *all the islands; and 
 such was the judgment and temperance with which 
 this order was executed by Sir Frederick Adam, 
 that at the moment of most angry irritation, during 
 the very saturnalia of liberty, while every govern- 
 ment was equally hateful to every Greek — the 
 disarming of the entire population was effected 
 without the loss of a single life, and, I may add, 
 without the slightest attempt at resistance. 
 
 We may here be permitted to rejoice, that cir- 
 cumstances of lawlessness and sedition at last ren- 
 dered necessary the execution of a measure, which 
 would have been advisable under any circum- 
 stances. If it was the duty of an enlightened go- 
 vernment to open to its subjects the paths of 
 civilization, surely the first and most obvious step 
 was to deprive them of the means of continual 
 assassination. The means of performing the crime 
 were a perpetual temptation to its performance. 
 At every drunken broil, on every festival, swords, 
 
 * Santa Maura had been disarmed previously to the Revolu- 
 tion, in consequence of insurrectional disturbances, in which 
 two or three British soldiers lost their lives. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 199 
 
 daggers, knives, pistols, were instantly in the hands 
 of all. Innumerable instruments of murder pre- 
 sented themselves, and were but too frequently 
 employed. The only remedy for this evil was to 
 remove the food by which it was nourished. 
 
 Almost the only permanent improvement which 
 the French have left behind them in any of the 
 countries they have occupied, is the great dimi- 
 nution of assassination in Italy. They deprived 
 the Italian of his stiletto, and the loss of the 
 weapon was soon succeeded by a change, first in 
 habit, then in feelings and ideas. And is a sti- 
 letto more dangerous in an Italian hand than an 
 attaghan in the grasp of a Greek ? Is the latter more 
 patient, more considerate, more placable, more mer- 
 ciful than the former ? Surely there is every reason 
 why a people, the most restless, perhaps, and disor- 
 derly in existence, should at length lose the power 
 of converting every scene of riotous intemperance 
 into a field of bloodshed and murder ; and, if I 
 were here disposed to venture any censure on the 
 conduct of the Ionian Government, it would be 
 an expression of wonder, that a measure of such 
 obvious utility had not been more speedily adopted. 
 
200 
 
 A VISIT TO GKEECE. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Corfu, May, 1824. 
 
 The state of irritation into which the lonians were 
 naturally thrown by the vicinity of the hostile fleets 
 made it necessary to issue a * proclamation, which 
 excluded the ships of both parties from anchorage 
 in the Ionian ports. In spite of this notification, a 
 Turkish fleet not long afterwards came to anchor 
 in the harbour of Zante. Their excuse was, a 
 violent gale, which might perhaps have proved 
 dangerous to such unskilful mariners. The mo- 
 ment, however, that the wind abated, they were 
 obliged to quit the port, and encounter the Greek 
 squadron which was waiting for them. In a letter 
 -j- shortly afterwards addressed to the Ionian Go- 
 vernment, the Greek Admiral, Andrea Meouli, 
 acknowledges, with some gratitude, an act demon- 
 strative of the sincerity of our neutrality, and calls 
 it " a measure which he expected from English 
 
 * This proclamation was dated the 29th of October. All 
 communication w&s at the s?ime time strictb' forbidden betv?6£Q 
 the islanders and the ships of either squadron. 
 
 t Dated, March 8—20, 1822. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 201 
 
 philanthropy ." In the May following, a single 
 armed vessel, belonging to Yussuff Pasha, entered 
 the same harbour, and was immediately obliged to 
 depart. Yussuff, a man of great courage and ta- 
 lents, appears not to have clearly comprehended 
 the justice of that policy, by which the English 
 excluded from their harbours the vessels of a 
 friendly power ; a power who had given them no 
 pretext for complaint, and to whom they were 
 making continual professions of attachment ; en- 
 gaged too, as that power was, in a dangerous con- 
 flict with its rebellious subjects, and thus standing 
 peculiarly in need of the assistance of its friends. 
 He Avrote to the Resident at Zante, (Sir Frederick 
 Stoven,) to complain of the little hospitality with 
 which his vessel had been received; and was 
 merely answered, that no armed vessel of either 
 party is allowed to remain above twelve hours in 
 the harbour of Zante. 
 
 Our enemies, both at home and abroad, have 
 dared to assert, that, during the earlier part of 
 the Revolution, the English Government so far 
 favoured the Turks, that British sailors, and even 
 officers, were encouraged to combat under the 
 banners of the Infidel. A more gratuitous false- 
 hood never fell from the lips of calumny. We 
 shall judge of the spirit of the Ionian Government, 
 (and then surely we see the reflection of the wishes 
 
202 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 of the British cabinet,) from one or two facts which 
 I am about to relate. 
 
 A Turkish fleet, under Ali Capudan Bey, which 
 had been employed against AH Pasha, was at an_ 
 chor in a port on the Albanian coast, opposite the 
 island of Corfu, when the insurrection broke out. 
 Having been informed that it contained several 
 European sailors, and among them, I believe, one 
 Englishman, SirT. Maitl and wrote, in June, 1821, 
 to the Capudan Bey, to demand the liberation 
 of all the Frank sailors on board his fleet. The 
 Capudan Bey answered, that they were embarked 
 before the rebellion, with the knowledge and con- 
 sent of their respective ambassadors at Constanti- 
 nople, but that, as * circumstances now stood, 
 there was justice in His Excellency's demand; 
 and he gave his " word of honour, 1 ' that as soon 
 as he should receive reinforcements, he would dis 
 miss them all. At present, his fleet was so ill 
 equipped, that he could not even put to sea with- 
 out their services. The English sailor appears to 
 have been already discharged. 
 
 Again, in January, 1822, the Egyptian frigate 
 or corvette, Asia, after being prevented from an- 
 choring at Corfu, took refuge in the neighbouring 
 
 * They had been engaged to sail against a Mahometan enemy ,• 
 they must now be employed (if at all employed) against 
 Christians. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 203 
 
 port of Murto. Having learnt that there were 
 twelve English sailors among the crew, Sir T. Mait- 
 land instantly demanded their liberation. The 
 captain answered, " that though the men entered 
 voluntarily at Trieste, at very high wages, — though 
 he had already discharged six others, who had 
 entreated him for that favour, — and though his 
 crew were so weak as scarcely to allow him to 
 navigate the ship, — he would still not refuse them 
 to the demands of His Excellency."" The men 
 were immediately landed ; and, subsequently, on 
 a second application from the Lord High Com- 
 missioner, some Austrian subjects also obtained 
 their discharge. 
 
 To these facts, I shall only add, that I had last 
 year an opportunity of ascertaining at Constantino- 
 ple, that the Turkish expedition of 1823, among 
 many Italian, Ragusan, and Illyrian sailors, con- 
 tained not one Englishman. 
 
 Any comment on such facts would only weaken 
 the conviction which they must inspire into every 
 mind which prejudice has not already rendered 
 impregnable to truth. 
 
 The vicinity of the islands to the scene of war- 
 fare, presented the Government with occasional 
 opportunities to mitigate the unusual horrors which 
 attended it, and it will be seen that they were not 
 neglected. At the taking of Tripolizza, in Oc- 
 tober, 1821, the Harem of Hourshid Pasha, amount- 
 
204 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 ing (together with those of two of his officers) to 
 eighty-eight persons, fell into the hands of the 
 insurgents. A negotiation for the ransom of these 
 unhappy prisoners was immediately set on foot, 
 and conducted, under the patronage of the Lord 
 High Commissioner, to a successful * conclusion ; 
 and early in the following spring, the captives 
 were restored to a generous husband, whose various 
 letters; written during the negotiation, are full of 
 very civilized expressions of affection and *j- ten- 
 derness. 
 
 Sir T. Maitland was soon afterwards the means 
 
 * I am surprised to perceive, that, in Mr. Blaquiere's book 
 on the Greek Revolution, (p. 103,) some credit is given to the 
 Greeks for their generosity in liberating this Harem, " for 
 about sixty thousand Spanish dollars." Now the fact is, (and 
 there exist documents to prove the fact,) that the whole sum 
 received by the Greeks was precisely one hundred and twenty 
 thousand dollars ; that of this enormous sum, eighty thousand 
 only were paid into the treasury ; and that the other forty 
 thousand were distributed, by a private article in the negotia- 
 tion, among the principal Greeks who conducted it, and who 
 thus, defrauded their country out of one-third of the ransom. 
 A very slight challenge would suffice to induce me to publish 
 the names of all the officers engaged in that nefarious transac- 
 tion, and the amount of the sums received by each, though 
 there be one name among them for which I am still disposed to 
 entertain considerable respect. It is right to add, that Prince 
 Maurocordato was at Misolonghi at that period, and had no 
 share whatever in this disgraceful affair. 
 
 t His wives were four in number -. Esmeb, Ilagitza, Fatima, 
 and Aissi. Esmeh was obviously the favourite, as she had 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 205 
 
 of effecting the liberation of some Greek prisoners; 
 and the letter of acknowledgment which he received 
 upon this occasion from the Greek Government is 
 so honourable to both parties, that I shall be ex- 
 cused for publishing it entire. 
 
 To Sir T. M AIT LAND, &c. &c. 
 
 Corinth, 17 — 29 May, 1822. 
 
 " The Greek Government would not willingly 
 omit an opportunity to do justice to an act of phi- 
 lanthropy. You deserve its gratitude by your 
 mediation, which has restored to liberty certain 
 unhappy men, betrayed by the fortune of war, 
 and who were languishing in the dungeons of 
 slavery. 
 
 " Th exchange of prisoners is loudly demanded 
 by the laws of humanity, and it is the strongest 
 desire of our hearts, to see your Excellency con- 
 tinue to second by your interposition that act so 
 worthy of you. It is with particular satisfaction, 
 that we testify our sentiments of gratitude to the 
 man of virtue who makes it his duty to succour 
 his fellow-creatures, and to the statesman who 
 
 twenty slaves for her own personal service. The others had 
 only five, six, and seven respectively. There were, besides, 
 twenty-one servants belonging to the Pasha's own establish- 
 ment. Some Beys, and their suites, whom Ilourshid wished to 
 have included in the treaty, were made, by the Greeks, the 
 subject of a separate negotiation. 
 
20G 
 
 A VTS1T TO OREECK. 
 
 makes use of his influence for the support of 
 humanity. 
 
 (Signed) " ALEXANDER MAUROCORDATO. 
 
 ATIIANASIUS CANACARY. 
 ANAGNOSTES DELIAYANOPULOS. 
 JOANNES LOGOTIIETES. 
 ORLANDOS (absent.)" 
 
 Posterity will not fail to do justice to the cha- 
 racter of a singularly virtuous and * upright man. 
 who has been made, at various periods, the object 
 of much base misrepresentation, and many miser- 
 able slanders. 
 
 We must return for a moment to our friends the 
 Suliotes, whom we left in possession of their native 
 country, engaged, in alliance with their ancient 
 enemy, in active hostility with the Turks. After 
 the death of Ali Pasha, in February, 1822, 
 Hourshid Pasha directed most of his forces against 
 the Suliotes ; they resisted, however, with courage 
 and success till the defeat, first of Marco Bozzaris 
 at Placca, and immediately afterwards of General 
 Normann at fPetta, rendered hopeless the continu- 
 ance of the struggle. They therefore proposed to 
 evacuate the country by capitulation, and retire 
 
 * It is, perhaps, right to add that my personal acquaintance 
 with Sir T. Mailland was extremely slight, and that I was never 
 under any obligation to him whatsoever. 
 
 t These took place respectively on the 6th and 16th of July, 
 1822. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 207 
 
 once more to their old asylum in the Ionian Isles. 
 The Turks, glad at any rate to be rid of their 
 most obstinate enemies, did not object to the pro- 
 posal, and the consent of the Ionian Government 
 was requested by both parties. It was granted 
 without difficulty, and the Chanticleer brig of war 
 was even despatched to Fanari, to superintend the 
 embarkation. According to the very honourable 
 capitulation which had been granted to their bra- 
 very, the Suliotes marched down, eighteen hundred 
 in number, with all their arms, and thirteen Turkish 
 hostages. The castle was not to be delivered up 
 until the boats, which were to be provided at the 
 expense of the Turks, should be actually arrived ; 
 and the stores found in the castle were also to be 
 paid for by the conqueror. Some little delays, 
 raised by Omer Pasha in executing one of these 
 conditions, was removed by the presence and inter- 
 ference of Captain Eden, and the Suliotes once 
 more took breath, and hope, and courage, under 
 the protection of British generosity. 
 
 This event took place in September, 1822, and 
 in the following spring these restless mountaineers, 
 impatient of repose and security while tumult and 
 danger could be found so near them, again crossed 
 over to the Continent, and have remained ever 
 since in Acarnania. Suli continues in the pos- 
 session of the Turks. 
 
208 
 
 A VISIT TO CItEECE. 
 
 XXIIT. 
 
 Corfu, May, 1824. 
 
 Our neutrality has been occasionally violated by 
 both parties; a situation so near the scene of so 
 much lawlessness rendered some insult quite una- 
 voidable ; much, however, has not been offered, 
 and none has been overlooked. I shall content 
 myself with giving two or three instances. 
 
 Early in the spring of 1822, an Algerine schooner, 
 forming part of the Turkish fleet, took by force, 
 from on board an Ionian boat, three or four 
 Moraite families, consisting of twenty-seven or 
 twenty-eight persons, and possessing a considerable 
 sum of money in jewels and Spanish dollars. The 
 pirate carried them first to Alexandria, where our 
 excellent Consul, Mr. Lee, made some ineffectual 
 efforts to obtain their deliverance. The circum- 
 stances were soon made known to Sir Thomas 
 Maitland, and he lost not a moment in requesting 
 Captain Hamilton of the Cambrian to sail in pur- 
 suit of them. That officer is never tardy or in- 
 different when an act of humanity is to be per- 
 formed, or an act of injustice to be chastised. He 
 found the offender in the neighbourhood of Scio, 
 
A VI6IT TO GREECE. 
 
 209 
 
 in the midst of the Turkish fleet. The barbarian, 
 surrounded as he was by his brother ruffians, made 
 some hesitation in parting with his spoil, and re- 
 linquished it only on the application of a * threat, 
 which admitted, he well knew, of easy and certain 
 execution. The astonished captives were trans- 
 ferred, with their property, to the Cambrian, and 
 restored to life and liberty. 
 
 About a year afterwards, a Moraite, seized also 
 on board an Ionian boat, was carried by the Turks 
 to Prevesa, and there immediately executed. This 
 flagrant insult on the British flag was made the 
 subject of immediate and energetic remonstrance, 
 by Sir Frederick Adam, (in the absence of Sir 
 Thomas Maitland) to the Turkish officers in Al- 
 bania; and when the Capudan Pasha arrived at 
 Patras in the June following, the General thought 
 it not too much to demand reparation in person -f. 
 Reparation was instantly promised, with the usual 
 
 * 1 tell this story as I have been in the habit of hearing it 
 told in the Levant, where Captain Hamilton is as popular as 
 meritorious. More than once I have heard Greeks, in their 
 private conversations, unite the names of Hamilton and Nelson. 
 
 t The Pasha arrived at Patras with some very wild notions 
 respecting the right of blockade, which it was also necessary 
 to correct, as well as to demand the restoration of a number of 
 Ionian craft, which he had seized, either before his blockade- 
 was proclaimed, or before the proclamation could be at all 
 generally known. The General was accompanied by Sir Graham 
 Moore. 
 
210 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 politeness and facility, — but whether with more 
 than the usual sincerity of a Pasha, I am unable 
 to say. Whether, however, the offenders have in 
 this instance been actually punished or no, such 
 serious notice has been taken of the offence, that 
 we shall not speedily be outraged by the repetition 
 of it. 
 
 The transaction to which I next proceed, is of 
 more importance, both as affecting the character of 
 the insurgent navy, and as having been thought 
 worthy of mention in the British House of Com- 
 mons. 
 
 It appears (by information officially communi- 
 cated to the Ionian Government), that on the 10th 
 of December, 1823, a Greek fleet, consisting of 
 seventeen sail, were seen off Ithaca, firing on a 
 Turkish brig which they had nearly surrounded, 
 and which shortly afterwards was driven on shore 
 to the southward of the island. On the Turkish 
 brig striking on the rocks, numerous armed boats 
 from the Greek fleet instantly pushed off for the 
 purpose of plundering the vessel, which they soon 
 effected, murdering all the wounded they found on 
 board. But not content with this, they afterwards 
 landed in pursuit of those unfortunate Turks who 
 fiad survived the fire of their ships, and swam on 
 shore for safety. They overtook some of the fu- 
 gitives, among whom was an officer of rank, and 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 211 
 
 the captain of the vessel; and having killed and 
 plundered them, vented the abundance of their 
 fury on their lifeless bodies*. Of course, the 
 Commandant of the Island, assisted by the officers 
 of police and a military guard, came as soon as 
 possible to the spot, and succeeded in saving nearly 
 fifty out of seventy-five Turks, who composed the 
 crew of the vessel. 
 
 On receiving intelligence of this event, Sir Tho- 
 mas Maitland published a proclamation placing the 
 two islands thus violated under a quarantine of 
 thirty days with the other islands. Nor did he fail 
 to remark, at the same time, with severity and 
 justice, on the conduct [of the aggressors in this 
 affair. The only exceptionable part of the pro- 
 clamation is that which describes the outrage to 
 have been committed by " some Greek armed 
 " vessels, seemingly under the command of a per- 
 
 * •' The bodies on the shore were mangled, pounded, cut up ! 
 Under the eye of the Captain of the port, a Greek killed a 
 man, then took out his knife, ripped up his body, severed his 
 heart, cut up his limbs in every direction, and then, putting his 
 knife into his mouth, walked down to the shore exultingly. 
 The bodies on the deck of the Turkish vessel seemed to be 
 trampled, — not on, but into, — for the mere pleasure of the 
 thing!" Such is the description written at the time, and from 
 the scene of slaughter. 
 
 Two days afterwards, the Island of Santa Maura was violated 
 in the same spirit, though not with the same circumstances of 
 barbarity. 
 
 P2 
 
21 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 "son * styling himself Prince Maurocordato." I 
 am surprised that the justice of Sir Thomas Mait- 
 land did not perceive that no part of the odium of 
 an act which, however atrocious, was obviously un- 
 premeditated, could possibly attach to a person of 
 notorious humanity, who was on board rather as 
 passenger than commander, and possessed, in fact, 
 no direct influence whatever on any operation of 
 the Greek navy. 
 
 The Prince, in a letter immediately addressed to 
 the Lord High Commissioner, contents himself 
 with remarking on the injustice of condemning a 
 nation for the actions of its individuals, and enclosing 
 the Greek official account of the affair of Ithaca, 
 requests that it may be published in the Corfu 
 Gazette. By this account, it would appear, that 
 as the Greek boats were rowing up to take pos- 
 session of their deserted prize, the Turks from the 
 shore fired upon them, and actually killed two 
 Spezziote sailors, whose names are mentioned. If 
 this be true, the first violation was committed by 
 the Turks;- and though even this supposition will 
 fail to justify, it will go very far in excuse of, the 
 retaliation on the enemy. But whatever faith we 
 may, on this point, be disposed to place in Hellenic 
 veracity, we are obliged to believe that the manner 
 
 * The words in the Italian copy are simply, * Di una per- 
 sona chiamata P. M." — And in the Greek, " uh Izoxu^Uoj 
 xaXou/iivou Uo. M." 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 213 
 
 of retaliation was such as the horror of impartial 
 spectators has depicted it. 
 
 The Greeks, in imitation of more civilized Belli- 
 gerents, assumed, from the very beginning of the 
 Revolution, the right of searching neutral vessels 
 for Turkish property, but I am not aware that the 
 blockade of the Turkish coast was formally pro- 
 claimed till March 13th, 1822. Above two-thirds 
 of the trade of the Levant is carried on under the 
 English and Austrian flags ; so that the effects of 
 the proclamation were most immediately and most 
 sensibly felt by Austria and England. In the 
 mean time, the Greek cruisers continued to act 
 upon their orders with an activity which was of 
 course strengthened by the prospect of sharing the 
 condemned property. Vessels of all nations at- 
 tempting to enter a blockaded port, were seized 
 without distinction, and carried off among the 
 rocks of the Archipelago : there some were de- 
 tained, to the great prejudice of their cargoes or 
 speculations ; others were condemned by the Ad- 
 miralty or Government ; and others, I fear I must 
 add, were plundered by their captors without any 
 order or authority whatever *. What conduct, 
 
 * In justice to the Greek Government, I must say, that they 
 have shown on every occasion the strongest disposition to pre- 
 vent or punish piracy, but they have, unfortunately, not always 
 possessed the power to do either. 
 
214 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 then, might be fairly adopted by the two great 
 powers who suffered most from this evil, in order 
 to arrest it ? 
 
 The part of Austria was obvious and consistent. 
 From the first explosion of the Revolution, she 
 had proclaimed her hostility to its principle, and 
 deprecated its success. She had used the little 
 means in her power, at Constantinople and else- 
 where, to quench and quell it. She had instructed 
 her *Journal uniformly to exaggerate the hopes of 
 the Turk, and to detail, with scrupulous accuracy, 
 all circumstances of weakness or dissension among 
 the insurgents. Her writings, her actions, her 
 prayers, had the same object invariably and un- 
 ceasingly. It was, therefore, natural, that Austria 
 should show very little respect to a blockade, pro- 
 claimed by a Government whose existence she did 
 not recognise, and whose principles she execrated, 
 and enforced by a people whom she would will- 
 ingly exclude for ever from the list of nations; 
 and thus we observe her naval officers acting occa- 
 sionally with considerable violence, and always ' in 
 
 * After all, the Austrian Observer is the only newspaper in 
 Europe which has given the facts and details of the Revolution 
 with any tolerable degree of accuracy. The only error it has 
 continually committed, has been to estimate too highly the 
 fcrcs and preparation* of Turkey. In this respect, the Editor 
 has ever allowed himself to be misled by his hopes. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 215 
 
 a spirit of marked hostility towards the in- 
 surgents *. 
 
 * Upon one occasion, in the autumn of 182S, an Austrian 
 ship of war took a small Psarian privateer, carried her into 
 Smyrna, and delivered her crew, consisting of twenty-one per- 
 sons, into the hands of the Turkish Governor. They were 
 immediately sent off to Constantinople for trial, and were 
 already crossing the sea of Marmora, and had arrived almost 
 under the cannon of the Seraglio. A few minutes more would 
 have decided their fate. At this critical instant, some of them 
 contrived to break the cords by which they were bound; they 
 rose upon the guard, overpowered, and put them all to death. 
 Having thus obtained possession of the boat, they proceeded 
 boldly towards the Dardanelles, the only outlet which could 
 conduct them to their country. For two days, they are be- 
 lieved to have been detained by contrary winds among the 
 islands of the Marmora, in the heart of the Turkish empire. 
 At last, they were enabled to advance, and they entered the 
 straits, every where lined by the batteries of the enemy. To 
 the various interrogations made to them during this passage, 
 they replied, that they were charged with despatches from the 
 Sultan to the Capudan Pasha, and were forbidden to stop on 
 any account. Some shot were fired at them, but happily with 
 no effect, and they escaped from this peril. Scarcely, however, 
 had they cleared the straits, before they were hailed by a Turk- 
 ish frigate, which approached them rapidly ; but even in this 
 danger they were not resourceless. They directed their course 
 towards the Turkish port of Tenedos, and approached extremely 
 near to the batteries. This manoeuvre deceived both parties i 
 the frigate ceased to pursue, and the batteries did not fire upon 
 them ; and, after again extricating themselves from the very 
 grasp of the enemy, they were at last picked up by a Spezziote 
 cruiser. This anecdote, which I know to be authentic, pre- 
 sents an instance of that singular mixture of address with au- 
 dacity, which is so strongly characteristic of Greeks. 
 
216 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 Very different was the situation of England, and 
 far more difficult the regulation of her conduct. 
 The difficulty was chiefly occasioned by the Ionian 
 declaration of neutrality. To acknowledge the 
 blockade of the one party, and to violate that of 
 the other, was not neutrality. To interdict all 
 communication with the blockaded Greek, and to 
 guarantee the safety of supplies embarked by Bri- 
 tish merchants for the starving Mussulman, was 
 not neutrality. On the other hand, publicly to 
 recognise any act of the Greek Go\ernment, was, 
 in some measure, to recognise the Government 
 whence that act emanated, — a Government, so dis- 
 cordant, so imbecile, so impotent to enforce the 
 execution of its orders, that the most eager Phil- 
 hellene would scarcely venture to recommend its 
 immediate acknowledgment. 
 
 Under these delicate circumstances, the officers 
 commanding the British squadron appear to have 
 been left, without any definite instructions, to be 
 guided by the particular nature of each case, and 
 to act on their own discretion. Such power was 
 very safely confided to the judgment and justice of 
 Captain Hamilton. Vigilant in the detection, and 
 severe in the punishment, of piracy, he was suc- 
 cessful alike in protecting the lawful commerce of 
 our merchants, and in acquiring the love and ad- 
 miration of the nation against whose invasions he 
 protected it. 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 217 
 
 A proof (for assertions care little) that the Greek 
 blockade was, in fact, from its very commence- 
 ment, respected by the English, is furnished by 
 various complaining letters, addressed, during the 
 summer of 1822, by Yussuf Fasha to the Ionian 
 Government. In a despatch of June 10, he men- 
 tions, that " ten vessels of the rebels are come to 
 anchor at Misolonghi, following the audacity, bar- 
 barity, and insolence, which is natural to them, 
 and which has given them the imagination of 
 becoming independent, and forming a nation, — 
 that they have declared to the Ionian Government 
 the blockade of these coasts, and have taken cer- 
 tain Austrian and English vessels, ' which were 
 transporting provisions thither. But Austria, not 
 recognising such blockade, as it is the work of 
 individuals, who, so far from being independent, 
 are rebels and pirates, sent an armed force, (which 
 is still in these waters,) and retook the captured 
 vessels, which were conducted hither, where they 
 are selling their provisions ; besides which, she 
 punished the rebels, and prevented them from 
 again molesting the Austrian flag. 
 
 '* But, as the English (he proceeds to say) have 
 not acted in the same manner, he begs permission 
 to demand, whether the Greek blockade is or is not 
 acknowledged by the British Government ?" 
 
 A letter, similar in tenour, was addressed early 
 in the following winter, to Sir T. Maitland, by 
 
218 
 
 A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 the three Pashas assembled before Misolonghi. 
 The activity of the Greek cruisers had intercepted 
 the supplies of provisions which the Turkish army 
 had been in the habit of receiving from the 
 islands in Ionian boats. Sir T. Maitland inva- 
 riably treated such applications with dignified 
 contempt. 
 
 In this undecided state the question appears to 
 have rested till the December of 1822; at which 
 period, the British and Austrian officers on the 
 Levant station came to an understanding on the 
 subject of the blockade, under the direction of 
 Sir Graham Moore ; the result of this was an 
 address to their respective merchants, in which 
 they promised their endeavours to recover any 
 capture, but, at the same time, strongly recom- 
 mended them to discontinue their trade with block- 
 aded ports. It would appear, by the style of this 
 address, that these officers would not have felt 
 justified in having recourse to actual force, for the 
 purpose of recovering vessels taken in the act of 
 violating the blockade. Thus the matter re- 
 mained till the summer following, when the Greek 
 blockade was understood to have been formally 
 recognised by the British Government. 
 
 Respecting the speculations of various European 
 merchants, whose vessels have been occasionally 
 employed in introducing supplies into blockaded 
 Turkish fortresses, much, ocijiaps too much, has 
 
A VISIT TO GREECE. 
 
 219 
 
 been already written. The language of abuse has 
 been exhausted upon their conduct; for there is 
 no method by which a momentary popularity is 
 obtained so easily as by the censure of an unpo- 
 pular act. Thus much, however, should be re- 
 collected in their defence: That their communi- 
 cation with the ports in question was nothing more 
 than a continuation of a friendly intercourse, 
 which had long existed, and had long been pro- 
 fitable to them ; and that it was kept up in vio- 
 lation of no order of the *British Government, and 
 at considerable risk of capture; and as to the 
 ^national distinctions of the belligerents, and the 
 respect due to ** the descendants of Themistocles," 
 I might add, with truth, that those whose com- 
 mercial transactions have made them familiar with 
 the character of both parties, continue their inter- 
 course much more willingly with the descendants 
 of Osman. 
 
 As to the impropriety of permitting Consuls- 
 and other officers established in the country for 
 the protection of commerce, to engage themselves 
 
 * Since the formal acknowledgment of the Greek blockade, 
 1 have heard of no authenticated instance of its violation by a 
 British subject. 
 
 t When we consider the present as a religious war, we must 
 assent to all that can be said in condemnation of Christians, 
 whom any hope of temporal advantage could seduce into amity 
 with the Infidel. 
 
220 
 
 A VISIT TO GItEECE. 
 
 in commercial speculations, there can exist no dif- 
 ference of opinion. Indeed it is greatly to be 
 desired, that the system established by the Levant 
 Company should be entirely altered, and that the 
 nomination and direction of the Consuls should be 
 transferred to Government. We should not, how- 
 ever, too hastily censure any individual for having 
 taken fair advantage of a privilege confessedly 
 allowed him ; nor should we make the faults of the 
 system a matter of reproach to those who have en- 
 deavoured to profit by them. 
 
 At any rate it is right to mention, that the 
 Consul-general, Mr. Cartwright, is not a mer- 
 chant. It is quite necessary, that he, at least, 
 should be notoriously excepted from every calumny. 
 Better acquainted with Greece and Greeks than 
 perhaps any European existing, he is a sincere 
 friend both to the country and the cause, and is 
 no less qualified for his high situation by talents 
 and knowledge, than by strict and inviolable 
 integrity. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 

APPENDIX. 
 
 i. 
 
 RUSSIAN RIGHT OF PROTECTION, $c. 
 
 By the Treaty of Kainardgi, the Porte engages, gene- 
 rally, to protect the Christian Religion and its 
 churches ; and, particularly, 
 
 I. " For the Isles of the Archipelago, restored to the 
 Porte by the Treaty of 1774 : 
 
 1st. " The Sublime Porte promises to observe strictly, 
 with regard to the inhabitants of those Isles, the con- 
 ditions stipulated in the first Article concerning the 
 general amnesty, and eternal oblivion of all crimes 
 committed, or suspected, in prejudice of the interests 
 of the Porte. 
 
 2d. " The Christian Religion shall not be exposed to 
 the slightest oppression any more than the churches, — 
 and no obstacles shall be opposed to their construction or 
 repair ; and those ivho serve them shall not be oppressed 
 or outraged" 
 
 There are two other clauses, which relate only to 
 circumstances of the moment, — as that the Porte shall 
 demand of them no arrears of taxes, remit their taxes 
 
224 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 for the two following years, and allow freedom of 
 emigration for one year after the date of the Treaty. 
 
 It appears, then, that with respect to the affairs of 
 Greece, Russia has no right whatsoever of interference, 
 except in the case that the Porte should persecute the 
 Greeks as Christians, and overthrow their churches, 
 and insult the ministers of their religion, as such. 
 The Turkish Government is not ignorant of this ; and 
 therefore, when Baron Strogonoff remonstrated against 
 the execution of the Patriarch, it was contented to re- 
 ply, " that no insult was therehy intended to the 
 Christian Religion." Nor was this the only point of 
 dispute between the Porte and the Baron, in which 
 strict justice was on the side of the former. 
 
 The Patriarch was executed, not as head of the 
 Christian Religion in Turkey, not as representative of 
 the Greek Clergy, but as a person engaged in treason- 
 able correspondence and plotting against die Govern- 
 ment; not, in short, as a Patriarch, but as a traitor. 
 It was an act, it is true, of unexampled ferocity, and 
 Baron Strogonoff had a perfect right to express that 
 abhorrence of it which he felt in common with every 
 Christian; but this was all; he could make no just 
 claim of reparation. The Turks had punished, after 
 their own fashion, an offending subject; and I imagine 
 that even the Russian Cabinet will not interpret the 
 above article to be a general guarantee of impunity to 
 the Greek Clergy, — or even to mean that every sus- 
 pected Papas is to be tried by the Russian Ambas- 
 sador! 
 
APFENDIX. 
 
 22^ 
 
 Still less can they derive from it any right of inter- 
 ference in the -political affairs of Greece. If an army 
 of Janissaries had been launched from Constantinople 
 into the Archipelago, to burn the churches and hang 
 the priests, without pretext or provocation, then, in- 
 deed, might the Cossacks have been let loose with 
 every justice into the heart of Asia. But the present 
 case is quite the reverse of that; the Greeks were the 
 aggressors ; the Greeks (may I so express myself) 
 were the persecutors ; mosques and tekays were vio- 
 lated and destroyed before any church or convent had 
 been entered by the Infidel. The Turks were as- 
 saulted at Patras, and massacred at Galacz, some 
 weeks before the execution of the Patriarch. I am 
 at a loss, then, to comprehend how the Cabinet of 
 Russia can consider the insurgents as subjected to 
 religious persecution ; or if this be not intended, I am 
 curious to learn what other title of interference can 
 possibly be extorted from the very plain words which 
 I have quoted. 
 
 But common sense is proof against all the sophisms 
 of diplomacy; the fact is too obvious for misinterpre- 
 tation ; the ministers of Europe will not be misled by 
 pretensions which cannot impose on any Reis EfFendi. 
 The Emperor Alexander has no more right to inter- 
 pose in the present affairs of Greece than the Grand 
 Duke of Baden. 
 
 The right by which the allied powers would disarm 
 the combatants who are bleeding to death before 
 them, is founded not on stipulation or convention, but 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 
 it is not less imperative, nor less sacred ; they derive 
 it solely from humanity ; from the law which makes 
 the passive spectator a partner in the murder, — which 
 justifies the use of force, for the prevention of crime 
 and wretchedness. A right established on such a 
 basis, we will not yet acknowledge to be exclusively 
 Ricssian. 
 
 II. For Walachia and Moldavia: 
 
 The same Treaty (Art. xvi.), after securing an 
 amnesty for the inhabitants, proceeds to stipulate, 
 " That the Porte shall not in any manner impede the 
 free exercise of the Christian Religion, nor oppose 
 any obstacle to the construction of new churches, or 
 the repair of old ones. 
 
 " That it shall restore certain possessions to con- 
 vents and individuals from whom they have been 
 unjustly seized. 
 
 " That it shall have for the Clergy the peculiar 
 esteem which their profession demands." 
 
 After consenting to some temporary stipulations 
 respecting taxes and emigration, similar to those 
 agreed upon respecting the Islands, 
 
 " The Porte promises to conduct itself with all 
 humanity and generosity in the taxes which it shall 
 levy on the inhabitants in money, and to receive them 
 by means of deputies, who shall be sent every two 
 years; at the term of the payment of these taxes, 
 neither Pasha nor Governor, nor any officer of what- 
 soever description, shall levy them, or exact other 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 227 
 
 payments, or impositions, under any pretext or deno- 
 mination. 
 
 " The Porte permits the princes of these States to 
 retain each of them a Charge d'Affaires at the seat of 
 Government, who shall be Christians of the Greek 
 Communion, who shall be treated with kindness by 
 the Porte, and, notwithstanding their little impor- 
 tance, considered as persons enjoying du droit dcs 
 gens, c'est a dire d Vabri de toute violence. 
 
 " The Porte also consents that, according as the 
 circumstances of these two principalities shall require 
 it, the Ministers of the Imperial Court of Russia, 
 resident at Constantinople, may speak in their favour, 
 and promises to listen to them with the attention due 
 to friendly and respected powers." 
 
 These stipulations have been confirmed by four 
 imperial Firmans, issued respectively in the years 
 1775, 1783, 1792, and Sept 24th, 1802. The last 
 of these contains some additional dispositions, relative 
 to the fixation of taxes, to the nomination of officers, 
 the organization of troops destined for the protection 
 of the country, fyc. fyc. 
 
 From the consideration of these stipulations we 
 perceive that, with regard to the affairs of Moldavia 
 and Walachia, Russia possesses a right of inter- 
 ference as extensive and as firmly established, as that 
 with respect to Greece is narrow and unsubstantial. 
 
 III. As to Servia: 
 
 The eighth Article of the Treaty of Bucharest (in 
 
 Q2 
 
228 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 1813) exacts the destruction of the fortresses built in 
 that country by the Turks during the war, but allows 
 them to retain garrisons in those formerly existing 
 there. The Porte then proceeds, " in its mercy, to 
 grant the Servians the same privileges which are 
 enjoyed by its subjects in the Islands of the Archipe- 
 lago ; and gives a great proof of its magnanimity in 
 abandoning to them the administration of their in- 
 ternal affairs, in imposing light contributions, in col- 
 lecting them * directly, and in entering, in concert with 
 the Servian nation, into dispositions necessary for that 
 purpose." 
 
 This degree of civil liberty contents the Servians 
 tolerably well; but let mediators beware how they 
 attempt to impose it upon Greeks. The Greek nation 
 can henceforward do nothing in concert with Turks. 
 In any convention by which it may be thought right 
 to compose the convulsions of the East, every article, 
 every detail, must be specified and defined; and the 
 powers who shall establish tranquillity must solemnly 
 oblige themselves to maintain it. Otherwise, the 
 Treaty will be violated by both parties in less than a 
 month from its conclusion. 
 
 It may here be not improper to say a few words on 
 the Russian project for the pacification of Greece, 
 which was published in the French papers in May 
 last. According to this plan, Greece was to undergo 
 a quadruple division. Eastern, Western Greece, and 
 
 * i.e., By not farming them, according to the custom of the 
 Turkish Government. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 229 
 
 the Morea with Crete, were to be erected into three 
 principalities, and the islands to be subjected to a 
 municipal form of government. These four districts 
 were to pay tribute to the Turks, according to their 
 extent and wealth. The Hospodars or Princes were 
 to be named by the Turkish Government. The Turks 
 were to keep garrisons in some of the fortresses, with 
 a district, beyond which they should not proceed. 
 
 Are we to consider this project as intended to serve 
 the interests of Russia, or the interests of Greece ? If 
 the former, it merits our admiration; at once pro- 
 found and ingenious, it contains nothing which does 
 not further its purpose. If the latter, it contains in 
 almost every paragraph a glaring absurdity. 
 
 First, to subdivide into petty principalities a coun- 
 try of small extent and population, whose only hope 
 of increase is derived from its hope of union under one 
 liberal Government — a country which to be great must 
 be commercial, and to be commercial must be inde- 
 pendent — is to crush in an instant every promise of a 
 flourishing future, and to shut up every prospect of 
 national or political improvement. On the other 
 hand, such a subdivision would be infinitely to the 
 interest of Russia, because the very weakness and 
 helplessness of dismembered Greece would oblige her 
 once more to look out for a foreign protector, and 
 place her entirely at his mercy. 
 
 Secondly, the political hopes of Greece being thus 
 destroyed, let us examine what consolation is to be 
 
230 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 offered to her in her internal administration. She is 
 to be subjected to a tribute, and to the Government of 
 Hospodars nominated by the Porte. Can a minister of 
 Russia profess to be ignorant, that the people of 
 Moldavia and Walachia are devoted, by the rule of 
 Hospodars so nominated, to oppression and degrada- 
 tion, ten times more keen and gnawing than any 
 immediate subjects of the Porte ? or, does Russia hate 
 a Greek so deeply, as to wish him reduced to the 
 same level of mental and moral turpitude, which so 
 admirably qualifies the Walachian for slavery? The 
 streets of Napoli and Tripolizza would become like 
 those of Tergowitz and Yassi, and Athens would rival 
 Bucharest in vulgar and profligate depravity. In the 
 mean time, Russia would secure to herself a right of 
 interference with the Porte in the affairs of Greece, 
 and watch the favourable moment to exercise or 
 exceed it. 
 
 But, thirdly, the greatest absurdity contained in 
 " the Project," considered as Phil-hellenic, is the 
 occupation of the fortresses of Greece by Turkish 
 soldiers. The Greeks of Napoli, for instance, " will 
 enjoy liberty, and have a perfect freedom of trade," 
 (I quote the Project,) under the guns of the Turkish 
 garrison of the Palamedes ! The same liberty is to be 
 enjoyed, no doubt, with the same security, at Athens, 
 at Patras, at Tripolizza ! In short, the Turks are 
 again to become the military, and the Greeks the civil, 
 part of the population ! No one at all instructed as to 
 
ArPENDIX. 
 
 231 
 
 the state of public feeling in Greece,— no one who 
 knew the intensity of hatred subsisting between the 
 combatants, could have seriously proposed a scheme 
 of again subjecting to Turkish garrisons, an armed 
 nation which for three years had rioted in independ- 
 ence. To disarm the Hellenic population would de- 
 mand more force than is possessed by Turkey, — to 
 send Turkish soldiers into the country, under what- 
 ever stipulation or guarantee, would be to send them 
 to massacre. 
 
 Again, the advantage which Russia would derive 
 from such an arrangement is rather too obvious. 
 Eternal dissensions between the people ruling and 
 the people ruled would lead to eternal violations of 
 the Convention guaranteed by the mediating powers, 
 and Russia, as the most active and prominent medi- 
 atrix, would be furnished with perpetual excuses for 
 interference. 
 
 Thus then, Greece would be reduced to a condition 
 even worse than that from which she has so honour- 
 ably emerged ; Russia would obtain the same influ- 
 ence over Greece, which she exercises in Moldavia 
 and Walachia; and Europe, by consenting to an ar- 
 rangement which would multiply the sources of differ- 
 ence between Russia and the Porte, would accelerate 
 a rupture between those two powers. 
 
 
232 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 II. 
 
 An Account of the death of Ali Pasha of Yannina, 
 from the official communication verbally made by his 
 Excellency the Rcis EfFendi to the first Interpreter of 
 the Britannic Embassy for the information of His Ex- 
 cellency Lord Strangford. 
 
 " Constantinople, the 24th of February, 1822. 
 
 " It is known, that Ali Pasha, concealed in his 
 intrenchments, had retired with about fifty men, who 
 had remained faithful, into a part of the citadel of 
 Yannina. The place which he had chosen for a last 
 retreat, was a building, divided into three stories. 
 The highest story was inhabited by the Pasha and his 
 suite, the treasures were enclosed in the middle, and 
 the lower story contained a great quantity of gun- 
 powder. 
 
 ;t Hourshid Pasha, informed of this arrangement, 
 sent his Silikdar to Ali, to propose to him to surrender 
 at discretion, to restore the part of the citadel which 
 he possessed, and to consign his treasures to that 
 officer ; for such appeared, in the extremity to which he 
 was reduced, to be the only rational determination 
 which remained for him to adopt. He added, that 
 he knew a report had been spread that Ali had re- 
 solved, in case he should be thrown into despair, to 
 set fire to the powder, and to blow up himself with 
 his treasures, and all those who surrounded him ; but 
 that this threat did not frighten him, and that if Ali 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 233 
 
 did not decide immediately, he would come himself 
 and apply the torch. 
 
 " Ali Pasha replied to the Silikdar, that he was 
 well assured that in his situation there was no other 
 choice, and that he was determined to surrender as 
 soon as he should be assured of his life. 
 
 " The Silikdar undertook to carry his answer to 
 his master, and returned soon afterwards to inform 
 him, in the name of Hourshid Pasha, that the fulfil- 
 ment of this request depended exclusively on the 
 Sultan, that the Pasha would willingly give him his 
 good offices with his Highness, but that he could not 
 do it with any hope of success unless Ali should 
 previously deliver up all he possessed ; that he 
 proposed to him consequently to effect the surrender 
 of the fort, of the treasures, of the stores, 4'C- #c., 
 and to retire and await the arrival of the resolution of 
 the Sultan in a small island on the lake near the 
 citadel. 
 
 " Ali Pasha asked time at first to reflect on the 
 decision which he should make; at last, after several 
 conversations with the Silikdar, he consented to 
 leave the citadel, and he retired into the island with 
 all his little troop, with the exception of one of his 
 trusty friends, with whom he agreed on a signal which 
 would instruct him whether he was to set fire to the 
 powder, or give up all that was intrusted to his care 
 to the officers of Hourshid Pasha. 
 
 " The Silikdar received Ali Pasha in the island at 
 the head of an equal number of men with that which 
 
234 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 accompanied the Visir ; they paid him all the honour 
 due to his rank, and, after having been treated for 
 several days by Hourshid Pasha with the greatest 
 respect, Ali had confidence enough to order the sur- 
 render of all that he had left in the citadel. They 
 immediately made haste to transport the powder into 
 a place of safety. 
 
 " Directly afterwards Ali Pasha requested that one 
 of his officers who commanded a small party of a 
 hundred men in the environs of Yannina, might be 
 permitted to rejoin him in the island. Hourshid 
 Pasha consented to this, but sent at the same time 
 a detachment, composed of an equal number of men, 
 to keep Ali's troops in awe. 
 
 " Different Pashas of inferior rank had been several 
 times to visit Ali. On the 13th day of the Moon 
 Djemaziul Awwel, (the 5th of February,) Mohammed 
 Pasha, Governor of the Morea, offered to procure for 
 Ali every possible comfort, naming particularly pro- 
 visions. Ali replied to this offer, that he desired 
 nothing more than a supply of meat ; he added, how- 
 ever, that he had still another wish, though his un- 
 willingness to offend the scruples of religion forbade 
 him to give utterance to it. Being pressed to name 
 it, he owned that it was wine which he wished for, 
 and Mahommed Pasha promised that he should receive 
 it. The conversation continued for some time in the 
 most friendly manner, till, at last, Mohammed Pasha 
 rose to take leave. Being of the same rank, they 
 rose at the same moment from the sopha, according 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 to the usual ceremony, and before leaving the room, 
 Mohammed Pasha bowed profoundly. Ali returned 
 the compliment, but at the instant of his inclination, 
 Mohammed executed the will of his Sovereign, and 
 put him to death by plunging a poniard into his left 
 breast. 
 
 " He immediately quitted the apartment, and an 
 nounced that Ali had ceased to exist. 
 
 " Some men of Mohammed's suite then entered and 
 divided the head from the body. The former having 
 been shown to the Sultan's troops as to those who had 
 embraced the rebel's part, a strife followed in which 
 several men were killed. But the minds of the peo- 
 ple were soon calmed, and all discord was appeased 
 by shouts of ' Long live Sultan Mahmoud and his 
 Visir Hourshid Pasha.' " 
 
 III. 
 
 CONVENTION OF ATHENS. 
 
 T* r / »/ c c ; T"« ' 
 
 a.s oitoixs fxafjiav 01 vnoyzyqaix^cvoi iLTnrpoTio 1 
 
 T7jr uTiBprxrriS SioiKwasous, of, re v E(pogoj rajv A0yjva>v 
 
 xccl Kamravoi /xs robs h ry ' 'Av.po7iohzi zjoXiopaov^i- 
 
 yous TougKovs, ore xaTaWoXe/xajfigyrey ovroi into rwv 
 
 'ExXyivcov xal tls layjxrw dvxyxriv s\96vtbs, £7[%iaQs.v- 
 
 GXVTO ZSEOl GUvQwhlV' 
 
236 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Ke(p. A'. 0» Tovpy.01 vx TvxpxdciGcoGiv rx oit\x rcov, 
 xxl rriv Ax§o-7roXjv //.h oKx rx ev Tayrri ivqinrxo ias- 
 
 VX XVEU riVOS ()6\0U. 
 
 B'. Ol "EkXyivss vx (pyXa^w<TJv /xe oXtjv tw oVvaTW 
 ETTi/jLiXrirji)) rriv ^ur,v xx\ rr,v rt/xriv to/v Toi^xwv. 
 
 IT". Tlxax (px^eWix Toupxixri vx XxQri gya (p6qra[/.x 
 a.710 rx povyjx. rcov evvoavrxs pouyjx rov uTtvou xxl 
 rr.s x7.Xx^ixs' ouoj reyyxqe&xs fxe rx (yy.iTtxay.xrx 
 ruv, ovoj axyjxvix jj.E rx axeirxaiAxrx rcov. 
 
 A. Kmo xGr,iAcio, [AzXxyfj.znx.o, ixx^yx^irxs, av/x- 
 •neqiXx/j^Sdvcovras xxl rx (/.erpnrsi, xxl xx9i- 
 r^o^xeqixb, hitou v,rov IsfiiP'XJns xrr K ux e^ixovrcvv 
 ruv Tougxcov, euros S'/iXs.oV) ruv oacov eXxQugxyco- 
 yriaxv xtto "Kqianavovs, vx XxQouv ro wfAiau. 
 
 E'. "Ocroi ruv Touqxojv ^eXviaouv auroTT^oxipiroi vx //.i- 
 vow els rxs AQtivxs, vx rous auy^u^Qr, eXeuQipx 
 ri xxroixix' offot Se beX'/iauai vx xTrehQojai els 
 'Aaixv, vx rous e/j^xqxxqi^ri rj Aiolxr,o~is els Eu- 
 ^ojtixixx kxqxQix, oTtoxxs Viitore ar^elxs ruy^cn, 
 <$ioouox els zsxaxv ^x/xeXXixv ro os^xstov oix ro 
 Ta^i'^J rf\s KJxfyixxSi xxl rupl, zyXYipcuvovJx xxl ro 
 vxuXo rcov, 
 
 Yxvrx eavixtymrfyridav ixerxiv rcov Suco /xegcov d/xe- 
 raQkrirus xxl xitxpxQxrus' eSoQn to zsxqov els %ei%xs 
 rojv Toupxcov eatyQxyicsy.evo ry otpqxyiSi rr/s xotvorwros, 
 y.a\ vTtoyeypx[A,[A : zVo zsxqx rous xxrcoOev. 
 
 'Ev AQwvxis rri n louvlou^ 1822. 
 
 * # # * 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 23' 
 
 IV. 
 
 FUNERAL ORATION 
 
 ON 
 
 LORD NOEL BYRON, 
 
 Extemporized and delivered by M. Spyridion 
 Trikoupes. 
 
 [Composed, as the Greek Publisher declares, in the space of 
 three or four hours.] 
 
 " How unexpected this occurrence ! how lamentable 
 this misfortune! 'lis but lately that the suffering 
 people of Greece, all joy and exultation, received into 
 its bosom this distinguished man, and to-day, all 
 affliction and dejection, we moisten his death-bed with 
 bitterest tears, and express a grief which is beyond 
 the power of consolation. It was Easter Sunday, but 
 the delightful salutation, " Christ is risen from the 
 dead," had no favour on the lips of the Christian 
 Greek, and each one meeting his companion, before 
 he offered the usual good wishes, inquired after the 
 health of Lord Byron. Thousands of persons, col- 
 lected to exchange the divine kiss of love in the broad 
 plain without the wall of our city, appeared as if col- 
 lected for no other purpose than to offer their prayers 
 to the Liberator of the Universe, for the health of our 
 fellow-labourer in the liberation of our country. 
 
 And how was it possible that every heart should 
 not be afflicted? that every lip should not be imbit- 
 tered ? Was this part of Greece ever in greater dis- 
 
238 
 
 APPENDIX'. 
 
 tress and necessity than at the moment when the 
 much-lamented Lord Byron passed over to Misolonghi 
 at the very risk of his life? And during the period of 
 his residence among us, has not his wealth-affording 
 hand ever relieved our most pressing exigences ? 
 How many other benefits, still greater than these, did 
 we not expect from the virtues of this same man? 
 And to-day, alas ! to-day, the fatal tomb absorbs him, 
 and with him our hopes ! 
 
 " But might he net have remained at ease beyond 
 the boundaries of Greece, and, in enjoyment of the 
 repose and luxuries of Europe, have succoured us 
 only by the munificence of his heart ? This had 
 sufficed for us, since the approved wisdom and pro- 
 found experience of the President of the Senate, our 
 Governor, would have provided, even with such means, 
 for the safety of the province ; but if this sufficed for 
 us, it sufficed not, far from it, for him ! Formed 
 by nature every where to protect the rights of man, 
 when he beheld them trodden down, — born in a free 
 and all-enlightened country, — nourished from a child 
 in the study of the writings of our immortal ancestors, 
 which teach all who read them what man is, nor this 
 only, but also what he ought to be, and what he can 
 be, — he saw the vilified and chain-bound man of 
 Greece struggling to burst his chains, and from the 
 fragments of his fetters to forge mortal weapons, that 
 he might recover by violence what violence had torn 
 from him. lie saw, — he quitted all the spiritual and 
 sensual enjoyments of Europe, and came to suffer and 
 endure with us; aiding us not only with his wealth, 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 239 
 
 which he grudged and regretted not, — not only with 
 his wisdom, of which he gave us so many preserving- 
 proofs, — but with his sword, sharpened against tyranny 
 and barbarity. He came, in one word, (as we learn 
 from those who were familiar with him) with the 
 determination to die in Greece for Greece. How, then, 
 should we not all be heart-broken for the loss of such 
 a man ? How should we not deplore his fate as the 
 common suffering of the whole Hellenic people ? 
 
 " Thus far, my brethren, you have seen the liberal, 
 the wealthy, the intrepid man, the true Phil-hellene,— 
 you have seen, too, your benefactor ; this suffices, 
 surely, to move us to tears. But more, far more, is 
 due to his character and to the greatness of his glori- 
 ous undertaking. He, whose death we are lamenting 
 inconsolably, was a man who (in some measure) gave 
 his name to our age. The extensiveness of his genius 
 and the sublimity of his imagination, allowed him not 
 to follow the bright but obvious footsteps of the lite- 
 rary glory of the ancients; he traced out a new path, 
 — a path from which servile prejudice has endeavoured, 
 and is still endeavouring, to exclude the literary 
 genius of Europe. But as long as his writings shall 
 endure, (and they will be coeval with the world) this 
 path will ever remain open, since, equally with the 
 other, it is the path of true glory. Thus much have 
 I been compelled to say to you, by the profound 
 veneration and the strong enthusiasm which the peru- 
 sal of his works has ever inspired into my heart, and 
 which I feel at this moment more violently than at 
 any other. The whole of enlightened Europe has 
 
240 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 praised, and still praises, the ' Poet of our age,' and 
 all ages will continue to eulogize him, because he was 
 born for the whole of Europe, and for every age. 
 
 " Born in the splendid metropolis of London, noble 
 both on his father's and his mother's side, what de- 
 light was experienced by his Phil-hellenic heart, when 
 our poor city, in proof of affection, enrolled him 
 among its citizens ! In the very agony of death, even 
 at the instant when eternity first presents itself to 
 man, hovering on the boundaries of mortal and im- 
 mortal life, — at that instant when the whole visible 
 world appears like a spot, in comparison with the splen- 
 did creations of Divine Omnipotence, — in that fearful 
 hour, the glorious deceased, disregarding the whole 
 universe, had no words on his lips except the names of 
 his only and dearly beloved daughter and — of Greece ! 
 These two names were too deeply imprinted in his 
 affections to be erased even in the instant of death. — 
 ' My daughter!' he said, ' Greece !' he said, and 
 his voice failed ! ! Is there a heart in Greece which 
 must not ever be melted by this recollection? 
 
 " Acceptable in death, my beloved Hellenes, truly 
 acceptable to his shade, are our tears, because they 
 are the tears of the heirs of his love. But far more 
 acceptable will be our exertions for our country ; 
 these, though far removed from us, he will observe 
 from the height of the Heavens which have been 
 opened to him by his virtue. This is the only proof 
 of affection which he demands for his beneficence, the 
 only return which he claims for his love. * * * 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 241 
 
 When your power, my beloved Hellenes, shall have 
 succeeded to crush the hands which have enchained 
 us, — the hands which seized our brothers, our children, 
 and our property, — then will his shade rejoice, then 
 will his ashes exult. Yes, in that happy hour of the 
 successful conclusion of your struggles, the priest shall 
 stretch out his holy and emancipated hand, and shall 
 praise and consecrate this glorious tomb; the young 
 soldier, girded with a sword steeped in the blood of 
 tyrants, shall adorn it with laurels ; the politician 
 with encomiums ; and the poet, bending over the har- 
 monious tomb-stone, will become more poetical ; — then 
 too shall the flower-adorned virgins of Greece, whose 
 magic beauty our fellow-citizen Byron celebrated in 
 many of his poems, — then shall our beautiful children, 
 no longer dreading pollution from the ravishing hand 
 of our tyrants, — form the dance around his tomb, cele- 
 brating in their song the beauties of their country 
 which have been celebrated so gracefully and so 
 truly by the ' poet of our age.' 
 
 " But, what painful reflection now occurs to me ! 
 my imagination has misled me ! I thought I beheld 
 what my heart desired ! I fancied benedictions, lau- 
 rel crowns, songs, dances, around the tomb of the 
 benefactor of Greece, — but this tomb will not contain 
 his honoured remains ! His body rests only a few days 
 longer on the face of our land, his adopted country ; 
 it is not granted to her arms ; it is transferred to the 
 land which he honoured by his birth. 
 
 " Thy arms, much-beloved daughter of Byron, 
 thine own arms shall receive him, thine own tears 
 
 It 
 
242 
 
 Al'l'ENUlX. 
 
 shall console the tomb which contains his ashes, and 
 the tears of the orphaned Hellenes will be poured 
 over the receptacle of the fragments which have been 
 left them, and over the whole extent of Greece, — for 
 the whole extent of Greece is his sepulchre. As in 
 the last moment of life, he had Ypu and Greece in his 
 heart and on his lips, it was just even after his 
 death that she too should receive a portion of his 
 respected remains. ***** Hellas, all in 
 mourning, all inconsolable, sends out to you his body ; 
 she sends it out with all religious, political, and mi- 
 litary pomp and honour, and with all the multitude 
 of Misolonghites his fellow-citizens, and of Hellenes 
 his fellow-countrymen. She sends it out to you 
 crowned with her gratitude, warmed with her tears, 
 accompanied by the acceptable prayers and blessings 
 of her archbishop, her bishop, and her whole church. 
 Learn, noble maid, learn that generals carried it ontheir 
 shoulders, and bore it into the church. Thousands 
 of Hellenic soldiers covered both sides of the road 
 when it passed, and the mouths of those arms which 
 had devoured so many and so many tyrants, were 
 directed to the earth, as if they would wage war 
 against the very earth, which had snatched from them 
 their sincere friend. All this multitude of soldiers at 
 this very instant, with the sword by their side, and 
 the musket on their shoulder, ready to march out 
 against the irreconcileable enemy of Christ and of 
 man, surround his bed of death, and swear upon it 
 never to forget the sacrifices of their father, and never 
 to allow the spot where his relics are placed to be 
 
APPEWDIX. 243 
 
 trampled on by the foot of the barbarian ; thousands 
 of Christian mouths are open at this very moment, 
 and the temple of the Most High God of the Christians 
 re-echoes no other sound than hymns — than suppli- 
 cations — that his venerated remains may journey 
 safely to his native land, and that his soul may find 
 rest where the souls of the just repose." 
 
 V. 
 ASSASSINATION OF ISMAEL PASHA. 
 
 News from Dongola, December, 1822. 
 
 A Chaous of the Pasha, who has just arrived from 
 above, gave to Abdin Cashief the following account 
 of the transaction relative to the death of Ismael 
 Pasha. He had been employed by His Excellency's 
 order to collect some horses in the country, and 
 having got together about forty, was on his return 
 with them to the camp at Sennaar. On his approach- 
 ing the country around Shendi, he was astonished to 
 find the Arabs flying about in various directions, and 
 a confusion among them that indicated some extra- 
 ordinary event. At last, he was informed by one of 
 the stragglers, that Ismael Pasha was dead, and the 
 country in an uproar. On this, the whole of the 
 Ragaie Arabs with him, excepting one guide ; fled 
 and made the best of their way on the hills. The 
 Chaous now took counsel with his guide as to what 
 was best to be done, and the latter advised him to 
 instantly retreat upon Dongola; but being ashamed 
 
 R 2 
 
244 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 to return on mere surmise of danger, he refused his 
 companion's advice, and persuaded him to go on with 
 him to Shendi, himself taking the disguise of an 
 Arab. Arrived in that neighbourhood, they took up 
 their station at one of the wells, which they knew the 
 poor inhabitants were in the custom of frequenting for 
 water. This was on the — of December, but they spent 
 all that evening without seeing a single soul. On the 
 following morning, however, two poor miserable crea- 
 tures came to the wells, and from them they learned, 
 generally the events that had taken place. It appears 
 that Ismael Pasha had descended from Sennaar, with 
 two small boats, his party not consisting of more than 
 thirty persons,— that he had been received in due 
 form by the Sheik Melek at Nimmer, who had given 
 him his son's house near the river to reside in. His 
 Excellency had scarcely seated himself in divan, 
 when he had demanded from the Melek a contri- 
 bution of many thousands of dollars and slaves, which 
 he ordered to be ready in three days. The Melek 
 remonstrated on the subject, and declared the impos- 
 sibility of obeying the order, when Ismael Pasha 
 struck him with his pipe. On which the Melek re- 
 tired with an assurance that " his affair should be 
 finished before morning." Scarcely had the night, 
 however, set in, when fire was put to the doorah, 
 straw heaped round the house, and the whole party, 
 with Ismael Pasha, were, as they attempted to escape, 
 massacred. 
 
 On receiving this intelligence, the Chaous, with his 
 conductors, thought it prudent to retreat to Dongola, 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 245 
 
 Abdin Cashief, the Governor there, on receiving this 
 intelligence, instantly sent out four Ababdes, mounted 
 on dromedaries, to gain more certain information, 
 doubting and hoping that the Chaous's story might 
 prove untrue ; but a few days after he received a 
 courier from * Bey and Jussuff Bey, which, in general 
 language, confirmed the fact. The latter wrote from 
 a station at Berber, and begged him, in urgent terms, 
 if the Delhi horse which he expected had arrived, 
 to put himself at their head, with his household troops, 
 and with all expedition to join them, as " the safety 
 of the remaining part of the Pasha's army depended on 
 receiving instant aid." It appears that Mahor Bey 
 had had a narrow escape in the neighbourhood of 
 Shendi, and had escaped by passing the Astaboras 
 on rafts. 
 
 The return of the Ababde messengers brought a 
 too fatal confirmation of the change in affairs, and 
 seems in its detail to be more consonant to the facts. 
 Ismael Pasha, it seems, had come down the rivers 
 from Sennaar, as before stated, in two boats, and, on 
 landing opposite to Shendi, had been received by the two 
 great Meleks. MelekNimmerand MelekMesuhul, com- 
 manding on the opposite or western branch of the Nile. 
 His Excellency was attended only by his personal suite. 
 The Selicdar of Ibrahim Pasha, with a party of horse, 
 having put out on their way by land, with directions 
 to keep the east side of the riv^er, while another party, 
 about forty in number, had gone down and encamped 
 on the west side. Ismael Pasha had been scarcely 
 seated, when he issued an order to the Melek Nimmer 
 
246 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 to bring him fifteen thousand dollars and six thousand 
 slaves in three days. The Melek, with some dignity, 
 said, " It was impossible to execute such an order, it 
 was not a land of slaves, or of wealth; they were 
 poor, but independent." " Do you insult me, slave?" 
 said Ismael Pasha, and struck him across the face 
 with his cane (a small Indian cane which it appears he 
 had lately been in the habit of riding with). The 
 other Melek, more wise, then interposed. "His Ex- 
 cellency's order (he said) should be instantly attended 
 to, — be it on his head :" at the same time, with secret 
 gestures, urging the Melek Nimmer to be silent ; " On 
 our heads be it to give your Excellency perfect satis- 
 faction." The Melek then retired. " Are you mad ?" 
 said the Melek Nimmer, when they got to their tent, 
 to his companion. " How can we ever execute an 
 order like this ? where is the money to come from ? 
 where are the slaves? Must we give them our chil- 
 dren ? must we sell our wives ?" " Peace, brother, 
 peace," said his more cunning companion : ", see you 
 not our situation ? The Pasha has said it, and when 
 have these people receded from their word? We are 
 lost, we are as dead men, but it is not necessary that 
 we should die to-day. Pursue your system of opposi- 
 tion, and you will not see another sun ; but with mind, 
 in three days much may be done, — nay, in three hours. 
 Our case is desperate, and desperate must be the 
 remedy. If we are to die, — and I see not how we are 
 to be saved, — at least let us have our revenge for past 
 insults, and then leave our death to the chances of 
 war." 
 
AVPKNDIX. 
 
 247 
 
 This plan was then concerted : as this Melek Nim- 
 mer had with him more than men enough for Ismael 
 Pasha's party, it was agreed that the other, to prevent 
 suspicion, should cross to the western side ; that he 
 should, as soon as it was dark, attack the party sta- 
 tioned there, and on gaining success, should beat the 
 signal with the tambours. On which, the attack on the 
 western side was made, and immediately after the 
 tambour was sounded. At this moment fire was put 
 to the stacks of doora straw that surrounded the house 
 in which Ismael Pasha slept. The confusion that 
 ensued may be easily imagined ; at every turn was an 
 armed man ready for slaughter, and before Ismael 
 Pasha and his suite knew what they were about, they 
 were all cut to pieces and killed. The only persons 
 spared were their Sheygya attendants, and by these 
 faithful fellows, the Ababde were assured, the body of 
 the young prince was on the following day washed, 
 laid out, and buried. 
 
 The Melek then sent out in every direction to 
 assemble his friends and tribes, and before the follow- 
 ing night, it is said, he was surrounded by ten thousand 
 Taltaleem and other Arabs. 
 
 After two days, Mahmoud ErTendi, who had been on 
 an expedition in the neighbourhood of Inakin, returned 
 to Shendi. He suspected no danger till he was in the 
 presence of the Melek, when on going to salute him, 
 (they had been on friendly terms before) the Nimmer 
 stopped him and said, " What! knew you not what 
 had happened ? we have killed your master, Ismael !" 
 To Mahmoud Effendi this was a thunder-stroke ; he 
 
248 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 saw his danger, and instantly threw himself at the 
 feet of the Nimmer. 
 
 " Melek, I am your slave! my life is in your 
 hands, but spare me ; I had no hand in this expedi- 
 tion; I have but done my duty, and obeyed my 
 orders." And so eloquent were, his pleadings, that 
 the Melek was moved, and not only spared him, but 
 gave him also a guard to attend him to a place of 
 safety. The Silikdar Bey of Ibrahim Pacha was not 
 so fortunate ; he had been attacked in that same 
 morning by a party of Arabs, whom he had beaten 
 back, but supposing these to be in rebellion against 
 the Nimmer, he still, without dread, advanced to 
 Shendi. As he entered the town, Mahmoud EfFendi 
 was going out. The latter could only make a signal 
 with his hand, which it appears was not understood. 
 The Silikdar approached the Melek without suspicion, 
 inquiring, after the first salute, what meant the signs 
 of rebellion he had seen. The Nimmer answered at 
 once, " It means destruction to all of you — Ismael 
 Pasha is dead, and you are my prisoner." A great 
 number of the Melek's Arabs then seized the Silikdar, 
 on which one of Ibrahim Pacha's people, Omer Bai- 
 rakdar, a black, a faithful servant of Mahomed Pacha, 
 drew his pistols and shot two of them dead, but before 
 he could use his sabre, both he and the Silikdar were 
 cut, " as is reported," into a thousand pieces.* 
 
 * The above is printed almost literally from the MS. There 
 are some obvious errors in the proper names, but I cannot cor- 
 rect them with certainty. 
 
 London .—Printed by W. Clowes, Northumberland Court. 
 
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