up an intercourse with men; good and evil came from their hands; all physical and moral endowments were their gift. The moral system of the earliest Greeks taught them to honour the gods by an exact observance of customs; to hold the rights of hospitality sacred, and even to spare murderers, if they fled to the sanctuaries of the gods for refuge. Cunning and revenge were allowed to be practiced against enemies. No law enforced continence. The power of the father, of the husband, or the brother, alone guarded the honour of the female sex, who therefore lived in continual dependence. The seducer brought his gifts and offerings to the gods, as if his conduct had been guiltless. The security of domestic life rested entirely in the master of the family.

From these characteristic traits of the earliest Greeks originated, in the sequel, the peculiarities of their religious notions, their love of freedom and action, their taste for the beautiful and the grand, and the simplicity of their manners. The religion of the Greeks was not so much iningled with superstition as that of the Romans; thus, for example, they were unacquainted with the practice of augury. The Greek was inclined to festivity even in religion, and served the gods less in spirit than in outward ceremonies. His religion had little influence on his morals, his belief, and the government of his thoughts. All it required was a belief in the gods, and in a future existence; freedom from gross crimes, and an observance of prescribed rites. The simplicity of their manners, and some obscure notions of a supreme God, who hated and punished evil, loved and rewarded good, served at first to maintain good morals and piety among them. These notions were afterwards exalted and systematized by poetry and philosophy; and the improvement spread from the cultivated classes through the great mass of the people.

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In the most enlightened period of Greece, clearer ideas of the unity of the deity, of his omniscience, his omnipresence, his holiness, his goodness, his justice, and of the necessity of worshipping him by virtue and purity of heart, prevailed. The moral system of some individuals among the Greeks was equally pure. The precepts of morality were delivered at first in sententious maxims; for example, the sayings of the seven wise men. Afterwards, Socrates and his disciples arose, and promulgated their pure doctrines. The love of freedom among the Greeks sprang from their good fortune, in having lived so long without oppression or fear of other nations, and from their natural vivacity of spirit. It was this which made small armies invincible, and which caused Lycurgus, Solon, and Timoleon to refuse crowns. Their freedom was the work of nature, and the consequence of their original patriarchal mode of life. Their first kings were considered as fathers of families, to whom obedience was willingly paid, in return for protection and favours. Important affairs were decided by the assemblies of the people. Each man was master in his own house, and in early times no taxes were paid. But as the kings strove continually to extend their powers, they were ultimately compelled to resign their dignities; and free states arose, with forms of government inclining more or less to aristocracy or democracy, or composed of a union of the two; the citizens were attached to a government which was administered under the direction of wise laws, and not of arbitrary power It was this noble love of a free country, which prompted Leonidas to say to the king of Persia, that he would rather die than hold a despotic sway over Greece. It was this which inspired Solon, Themistocles, Demosthenes, and Phocion, when, in spite of the ingratitude of their countrymen, they chose to serve the state and the laws, rather than their own interests. The cultivation of their fruitful country, which, by the industry of the inhabitants, afforded nourishment to several millions, and the wealth of their colonies, prove the activity of the Greeks. Commerce, navigation, and manufactures flourished on all sides; knowledge

of every sort was accumulated; the spirit of invention was busily av work; the Greeks learned to estimate the pleasures of society, but they also learned to love luxury. From these sources of activity sprang also a love of great actions and great enterprises, so many instances of which are furnished by Grecian history. Another striking trait of the Grecian character, was a love of the beautiful, both physical and intellectual. This sense of the beautiful, awakened and developed by nature, created for itself an ideal of beauty, which served them, and has been transmitted to us, as a criterion for every work of art.

CHAPTER II.

We have seen to what a state of degradation the Greeks were reduced in a few centuries after their subjugation by the Romans. Thus it continued as long as it was either really or nominally a portion of the Roman empire; till at length, like the imperial mistress of the world herself, it bent before the all-subduing Alaric the Goth, A. D. 400; and shared in all the miseries which were brought by the northern barbarians who succes sively overran and ravaged the south of Europe. After the Latin conquest of Constantinople, in 1204, Greece was divided into feudal principalities, and governed by a variety of Norman, Venetian, and Frankish nobles; but in 1261, with the exception of Athens and Nauplia, it was re-united to the Greek empire by Michael Paleologus. But it not long remained unmolested; for the Turks then rising into notice, aimed at obtaining power in Europe: and Amurath II. deprived the Greeks of all their cities and castles on the Euxine sea, and along the coasts of Thrace, Macedon, and Thessaly; carrying his victorious arms, in short, into the midst of the Peloponnesus. The Grecian emperors acknowledged him as their superior lord, and he, in turn, afforded them protection. This conquest, however, was not effected without a brave resistance, particularly from two heroic Christians, John Hunniades, a celebrated Hungarian general, and George Castriot, an Albanian prince, better known in history by the name of Scanderberg.

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When Mohammed II., in 1451, ascended the Ottoman throne, the fate of the Greek empire seemed to be decided, At the head of an army of 300,000 men, supported by a fleet of 300 sail, he laid siege to Constantinople, and encouraged his troops by spreading reports of prophecies and prodigies that portended the triumph of Islamism. Constantine, the last of the Greek emperors, met the storm with becoming resolution, and maintained the city for fifty-three days, though the fanaticism and fury of the besiegers were raised to the highest pitch. At length, (May 29, 1453) the Turks stormed the walls, and the brave Constantine perished at the head of his faithful troops. The final conquest of Greece did not, however, take place till 1481. Neither were the conquerors long left in undisturbed possession of their newly-acquired territory; and during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Greece was the scene of obstinate wars, till the treaty of Passarovitz, in 1718, confirmed the Turks in their conquest; and for a century from that time the inhabitants of Greece groaned under their despotic sway.

At the time of the expedition of the French into Egypt, the Greeks, strongly excited by the events of the war, which was thus approaching them, waited for them as liberators, with the firm resolution of going to meet them and regaining their liberty; but again their hopes were disappointed, and the succors they expected from France were removed to a distance. Having waited in vain, in the midst of the great events which in several respects have changed the whole face of Europe in this century, the Greeks, taking counsel only of their despair, and indignant at living always as helots on the ruins of Sparta and of Athens, when nations but

of yesterday were recovering their rights and recognizing their social relations, rose against their despotic and cruel masters, perhaps with greater boldness than prudence. The first decided movement took place in the year 1800, when the Servians, provoked by the cruelty of their oppressors the Turks, made a general insurrection, which was headed by their famous chief Czerni George, who had been a sergeant in the Austrian service, and afterward became a bandit chief. He was possessed of much energy of character and bravery; and under him the Servians obtained several victories. He blockaded Belgrade; and, one of the gates being surrendered to him, he made his entry into the city and slaughtered all the Turks that were found in it.

At this time the affairs of the Porte were in great disorder. It had but just terminated its war with France; and the efforts by which it had been endeavouring to reduce Paswan Oglou, pacha of Widden, had failed and ended in disgrace. At home the Janissaries were ever dissatisfied, and Roumelia was in a disturbed state. The divan, however, exerted themselves to quell the Servians, and they were aided by the Bosnians, in consequence of which many sanguinary combats took place. But relying on the promises of Russia, and receiving pecuniary succour from Ypsilanti, the insurgents continued the contest, issuing from their fastnesses on every favourable opportunity, and making their progress a terror to the country by spreading devastation in every direction. In the meantime Russia openly declared war against the Porte in 1807, and carried on the war until 1812, when the treaty of Bucharest was negociated; and though some efforts were made to obtain a concession in favour of their Servian allies, yet one difficulty after another being started by the Porte, a peace was at length concluded, as before, upon such terms as left the insurgents to their fate. At length it was agreed, that Milosh, brother-in-law to Czerni George, a native, should be their prince; that the sum of £100,000 should be paid yearly to the Turks, whose garrisons in the fortresses of the Danube were to be limited, and that the prince should maintain a few national forces, for the regulation of the internal policy.

The period that intervened between 1815 and 1820 was apparently tran quil: the Ottoman affairs seemed prosperous; the Sultan Mahmoud, by his vigorous measures, maintained peace with his neighbours, quelled the spirit of the mutinous Janissaries, suppressed several revolts in the eastern part of the empire, drove the Wechabites from Mecca, and gave more weight to the imperial firmans than they had heretofore possessed. But under this appearance of tranquillity, all those projects were forming which produced what we term "the Greek revolution." The Greeks soon became more open in their plots against their oppressors, and entertained some considerable hopes from the probable arrangements of the congress of Vienna; but that congress closed without effecting any result favourable to the liberties of Greece. This, however, did not damp the ardour of its friends, nor induce them to abandon the plans they had projected. At length, in 1820, symptoms of a general rising appeared: and all civilized nations seemed disposed to aid the cause of the oppressed. But that generous feeling in a great measure subsided, as the petty dissen. tions of party, or the despotic notions of arbitrary power, severally dis played themselves. The Turks and Greeks never became one nation, the relation of conquerors and conquered never ceased. However abject a large part of the Greeks became by their continued oppression, they never forgot that they were a distinct nation; and their patriarch at Constantinople remained a visible point of union for their national feelings.

On the 7th of March, 1821, a proclamation of Ypsilanti was placarded in Jassy, under the eyes of the hospodar, Michael Suzzo, which declared, that all the Greeks had on that day thrown off the Turkish yoke; that he would put himself at their head, with his countrymen; that Prince Suzzo

wished the happiness of the Greeks; and that nothing was to be feared, as a great power was going to march against Turkey. Several officers and members of the Hetaireia had accompanied Ypsilanti from Bessarabia and Jassy. Some Turks were murdered, but Ypsilanti did all in his power to prevent excess, and was generally successful. He wrote to the emperor of Russia, Alexander, who was then at Laybach, asking his protection for the Greek cause, and the two principalities, Wallachia, and Moldavia; but the revolutions in Spain and Piedmont had just then broke out, and that monarch considered, the Greek insurrection to be nothing but a political fever, caught from Spain and Italy, which could not be checked too soon; besides, Ypsilanti was actually in the service of Russia, and therefore had undertaken this step against the rules of military disc pline. Alexander publicly disavowed the measure; Ypsilanti's name was struck from the army rolls, and he was declared to be no longer a subject of Russia. The Russian minister, and the Austrian internuncio at Constantinople, also declared that their cabinets would not take advantage of the internal troubles of Turkey, in any shape whatever, but would remain strictly neutral. Yet the Porte continued suspicious, particularly after the information of an Englishman had led to the detection of some supposed traces of the Greek conspiracy at Constantinople. It, therefore, ordered the Russian vessels to be searched, contrary to treaty. The commerce of Odessa suffered from this measure, which occasioned a serious correspondence between Baron Stroganoff, the Russian ambassadör, and the reis effendi. The most vigorous measures were taken against all Greeks; their schools were suppressed; their arms seized; suspicion was a sentence of death; the flight of some rendered all guilty, and it was prohibited under penalty of death in the divan, the total extinction of the Greek name was proposed; Turkish troops marched into the principalities; the hospodar Suzzo was outlawed; the patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem excommunicated all insurgents (March 21); and a hattisheriff of March 31, called upon the Mussulmans to arm against the rebels for the protection of the Islams. No Greek was, for some time, safe in the streets of Constantinople; women and children were thrown into the sea; the noblest families openly violated, and murdered or sold; the populace broke into the house of Fonton, the Russian counsellor of legation; and Prince Murusi was beheaded in the seraglio. After the arrival of the new grand-vizier, Benderli Ali Pacha, who conducted a disorderly army from Asia to the Bosphorus, the wildes fanaticism raged in Constantino ple. In Wallachia and Moldavia the bloody struggle was brought to a close through the treachery, discord, and cowardice of the pandoors and Arnaouts, with the annihilation of the valiant "sacred band" of the Hetaireia, in the battle of Dragashan (June 19,1821), and with Jordaki's heroic death in the monastery of Seck.

In Greece Proper, no cruelty could quench the fire of liberty; the beys of the Morea invited all bishops and the noblest Greeks to Tripolizza, under pretence of consulting with them on the deliverance of the people from their cruel oppression. Several fell into the snare: when they arrived, they were thrown into prison. Germanos, archbishop of Patras, alone penetrated the intended treachery, and took measures with the others for frustrating the designs of their oppressors. The beys of the Morea then endeavoured to disarm the separate tribes; but it was too late; the Mainotes, always free, descended from Mount Taygetos, in obedience to Ypsilanti's proclamation; and the heart of all Greece beat for liberty. The revolution in the Morea began, March 23, 1821, at Calavrita a small place in Achaia, where eighty Turks were made prisoners. On the same day the Turkish garrison of Patras fell upon the Greek inhabitants; but they were soon relieved. In the ancient Laconia, Colocotroni and Peter Mav romichalis roused the people to arms. The archbishop Germanos col

lected the peasants of Achaia. In Patras and the other places, the Turks retreated into the fortresses. As early as April 6, a Messenian senate assembled in Calamata, and the bey of Maina, Peter Mavromichalis, as commander-in-chief, proclaimed that the Morea had shaken of the yoke of Turkey to save the Christian faith, and to restore the ancient character of their country. "From Europe, nothing is wanted but money, arms, and counsels." From that time the suffering Greeks found friends in Germany, France, Switzerland, Britain, and the United States, who sympathized with them, and did all in their power to assist them in their struggle. The cabinets of Europe, on the contrary, threw every impediment in the way of the Hellenists, until they were finally obliged, against their inclination, to interfere in their favour.

Jussuf Selim, pacha of Lepanto, having received information of these events from the diplomatic agent of a European power, hastened to re. lieve the citadel of Patras, and the town was changed into a heap of ruins. The massacre of the inhabitants, April 15, was the signal for a struggle of life and death. Almost the whole war was thenceforward a succession of atrocities. It was not a war prosecuted on any fixed plan, but merely a series of devastations and murders. The law of nations could not exist between the Turks and Greeks, as they were then situated. The monk Gregoras, soon after, occupied Corinth, at the head of a body of Greeks. The revolution spread over Attica, Boeotia, Phocis, Ætolia, and Acarnania. The ancient names were revived. At the same time, the islanders declared themselves free. In some islands the Turks were massacred, in revenge for the murder of the Greeks at Patras; and, in retaliation, the Greeks were put to death at Smyrna, in Asia Minor, and in those islands which had not yet shaken off the Turkish yoke. The exasperation was raised to its highest pitch by the cruelties committed against the Greeks in Constantinople after the end of March. On mere suspicion, and often merely to get possession of their property, the divan caused the richest Greek merchants and bankers to be put to death. The rage of the Mussulmans was particularly directed against the Greek clergy. The patriarch of Constantinople was murdered, with his bishops, in the metropolis. In Adrianople, the venerable patriarch Cyrillus, who had retired to solitude, and Prosos, archbishop of Adrianople, and others, met the same fate. Several hundred Greek churches were torn down, without the divan paying any attention to the remonstrances of the Christian ambassadors. The savage grand-vizier, indeed, lost his place, and soon after his life; but Mahmoud and his favourite, Halet effendi, persisted in the plan of extermination.

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The commerce of Russia, on the Black Sea, was totally ruined by the blockade of the Bosphorus, and the ultimatum of the ambassador was not answered. Baron Stroganoff, therefore, broke off all diplomatic relations with the reis effendi, July 18, and on the 31st, embarked for Odessa. had declared to the divan that, if the Porte did not change its system, Russia would feel herself obliged to give "the Greeks refuge, protection, and assistance.' The answer of the reis effendi to this declaration, given loo late, was sent to Petersburg; but it was after the most atrocious excesses, committed by the janissaries, and the troops from Asia, that the foreign ministers, particularly the British minister, Lord Strangford, succeeded in inducing the grand-seignior to recall the command for the arming of all Mussulmans, and to restore order.

CHAPTER III.

ALL eyes were fixed on Tripolizza, which was now in a state of close blockade, and its fall daily expected. The usual population was about fifteen thousand souls it is also computed, that the garrison, with all the