The siege was continued with singular want of skill, and was terminated, as many still think, by the special interference of Providence :

"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 instance, to about sixteen 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 expectation of the usual rains, they had consumed with little economy. In the mean time, the winter, and next, the spring was passing away, and not a 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 approaching, 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 villages, 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."

The Turks capitulated, and three days after the Acropolis was deluged with rain :*

*

The Turks, in number eleven hundred and forty, 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 wounded. All their arms had been surrendered, according to the capitulation. * * 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 Thermopyla, and was already at Thebes on its way to Athens. * * 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 massacre."-p. 67.

Mr. Waddington has gone with candour into all the circum

Mr. Blaquiere mentions an occurrence perhaps more singular than the above, and which the Greeks regarded as a more direct interposition of heaven. When the Turks besieged Anatolico, the inhabitants were reduced to the most extreme distress for want of water. When capitulation seemed inevitable, a shell from a ten-inch mortar fell upon the pavement of the church of St. Michael, and broke into a source of abundant and excellent water! Mr. Blaquiere says, he scrupulously ascertained the facts from eyewitnesses on the spot. p. 44, 2d part.

stances which prompted and may palliate this disgusting event. We have only room to refer our readers to the work itself. On the 15th of July, Dramali Pacha's approach renewed the terrors of the Athenians; but he passed the guilty city and entered the Morea. The result is well known. Baffled and harassed, he was retreating rapidly from Argos to Corinth, when his mountain enemies beset him in the pass of Dervenaki, and destroyed his whole army-above four thousand men, with the loss only of fifteen.

Odysseus became governor of Athens: a man so notorious in every stage of this strange contest, so alternately cursed, worshipped, trusted, and suspected, that we shall be pardoned in transcribing for the reader the history of his rise:

*

*

Andritzes, father of Odysseus, was a Thessalian, born near Thermopylae: but after this affair of Lambro, in which he was implicated, he resided generally at Yanina, though he died at Constantinople. The son happened to be born at Ithaca, and to that circumstance is indebted for his heroic name. He was removed at a very early age to Yanina, and received his education in the service of Ali Pacha, a school in which 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. * * He challenged the finest horse of Ali Pacha 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 Pacha 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, the biped was triumphant, and became from that moment the distinguished favourite of his master. 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 Ali rewarded by presenting him with a bride from his own harem. * And the son of Andritzes became generally known and envied throughout the mountains of Roumelia."-p. 78.

This man has been at the head of the military party in Greece, who have enriched themselves by the common plunder, to an extent which is wretchedly contrasted with the public poverty of the government. The head of the civil party was prince Mavrocordato, the poorest, the honestest, and the most enlightened man who has held authority in Greece. Nothing but his character, his talents, and the consequent admiration of his country, have upheld him against the boisterous hostility of the Capitani, It was to this man that Colonel Stanhope, in his misguided zeal,

*

In

addressed at his departure from Greece the most sarcastic and irritating letter that his talents enabled him to compose. proof that we have not overrated Prince Mavrocordato's character, we appeal to every part he has taken in Greece hitherto; to Lord Byron's opinion, to Mr. Blaquiere, to Colonel Stanhope's letters themselves. Mr. Waddington says, " Every one speaks well of him, and there are some who profess to consider him ⚫ the only hope of Greece.' Of the organization and consolidation of Greece, it is, I fear, but too true, that our hopes do mainly repose in him." (p. 113.) "Prince Mavrocordato is still preserved to the hopes and vows of his country, and to the friendship of every friend of honest and practicable freedom."-p. 170.

Unhappily, Colonel Stanhope went on a mission to Odysseus: "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 Messolunghi, 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 Pacha, the soldier, whose only law through life had been his sword-suddenly transformed into a benevolent, liberal, philanthropic republican!"-p. 82.

Colonel Stanhope became his dupe, and a letter was afterwards intercepted, of Sophianopulo, an unprincipled, intriguing accomplice, boasting of the success. Will it be believed that Colonel Stanhope's hostility allowed him to descend to grudge Mavrocordato the title of prince, which custom and courtesy had prefixed to his name, and endeavour to strip him of the harmless continuation of a remnant of Turkish etiquette ? Giving Colonel Stanhope all credit for zeal and enthusiasm, we cannot forgive the Greek committee for complimenting him on his powers of conciliation-when he became the tool of one party, and (right or wrong) had done all in his limited power to exasperate the other. We will make some remarks on the points in dispute, not to illustrate the quarrel, to which we bid a hearty farewell, but to exhibit the state of opinions in the country. Prince Mavrocordato was inclined to watch the lately established newspapers, and Lord Byron joined in the opinion. "I hope," says he, "that the press will succeed better there (Athens) than it has here, (Messolunghi.) The Greek newspaper has done great mischief, both in

* Colonel Stanhope's note, and Prince Mavrocordato's fine letter to Mr. Blaquiere on the subject, are worth referring to. They are in " Blaquiere," p. 77, part 2d. Colonel Stanhope's Letters, pp. 223-335.

+ Parry. p. 304.

We may, en passant, remind the reader, that Odysseus, after Colonel Stanhope's departure, joined the Turks! Mavrocordato's name is still untainted,

the Morea and in the islands." (Stanhope's Greece, p. 126.) Mavrocordato was suspected to be in favour of a foreign king. These were the two points on which Colonel Stanhope's anger was founded. Yet all parties seem to unite in the latter opinion. "It is quite certain," says Mr. Waddington, "that the great majority of the nation is at this moment in favour of a constitutional monarchy. But whom are they to select for their monarch? No Greek can ever be generally popular in Greece: The sceptre then seems destined to the hand of no native. * * * They therefore rest their only hope of organization and repose in the vigour and impartiality of a foreign king." (W. p. 162.) Among these proposed potentates, are Gustavus of Austria, Jerome Buonaparte, Bernadotte, and Prince Leopold. Colonel Stanhope has suggested the Duke of Sussex. We leave the decision to our readers.

* * *

The place of Odysseus, after his desertion of the cause, has been assumed by his disciple Gourra; and as this has rendered him one of the most important men now in Greece, it may be as well to know something of him :—

"A Turkish officer of some consequence, residing at Athens, had incurred the enmity of Ali Pacha, who consulted Odysseus as to the means of procuring his destruction; the latter selected Gourra, one of the most daring and hardiest of his soldiers, 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 unquestioned. He speedily became acquainted with the person of his victim, but the number and assiduity of the guards rendered it 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 courage of the opportunity. 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, however, subsequently obtained, by the interference of Ali Pacha, and he returned to his master with pride and honour, a distinguished and successful assassin."-W. p. 83.

Of the celebrated Colocotroni, it may only be necessary to say, that he has been successively a Klepht, a butcher, and a Capitan, and in these trades he has amassed great wealth-he has coined his country's heart, and dropped her blood for drachmas―and is, or was, the richest man in Greece, and the greatest rascal.

Mr. Waddington selects Napoli di Romania as the probablė capital when Greece shall be free :

"Its vicinity 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 intends to be any thing. * * The city, as having been exclusively inhabited by Turks, is by far the best built in Greece; the greater part of it has escaped the injuries of war, and the fortifications appear not to have sustained any damage. *While philanthropic foreigners are establishing, (or threatening to establish,) schools, presses, and laboratories, in every corner of the country, this lively and unscholastic people has already erected, for its own civilization, an excellent café and billiards. 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."-p. 130.

It may indeed be asked, what great benefit have the Greek committee conferred on Greece ?* We question not their zeal, but their philosophy. The laboratory was a failure, the schools, presses, and Utilitarian societies, have done nothing to keep the Turks out-the money was a bone of contention-all parties quarrelled over it, the debt remains, and Greek scrip is at 16 discount. Pecuniary assistance should be great enough to sweep every thing before it, or it should be nothing at all. Its obvious effects are to paralyze the efforts of individual patriotism in Greece. No one will sacrifice his private fortune, when foreign money-lenders are to go hand-in-hand with him: no one knows the extent to which the loan will aid his country's difficulties, nor consequently the need there may be of his scanty assistance; the result is, that each man is content to hoard his own wealth as long as the state has such good friends to help her. Just as in this country, whenever government has come forward to assist any charitable institution, individual contribution has immediately ceased.

If Greece be once set free, it will be, pro tanto, an enlargement of the market for English commerce. But this result must never be sought by our direct interference. The great continental powers will never tamely watch the possibility of Greece coming under the protection-in other words becoming the appendage of this country. The possession of Greece would lead to the seizure of the Dardanelles, on the first dispute with Turkey: and a government in possession of the British islands, Gibraltar, Malta, Greece, and the Dardanelles, would so effectually surround Europe, and have such numerous methods of resenting a quarrel, and destroying the whole commerce of the continent, that no step

"I have often perceived," says Mr. Waddington, "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." Note p. 117.