A great proportion of the Greeks are engaged in foreign or domestic trade ; and as merchants they are reported to be vigilant and dexterous, but over reaching and deceitful. Those who get into power, as Archon* or Codjabashees, are as rapacious and tyrannical' as the Turks. All classes are devoutly attached to the doctrines of the church, and hold other sects in such contempt, that they regard them selves the Russians as the only Christians. The few well-informed men among them are generally sceptical, as will always happen where religion is de based by absurdities which shock the understanding. One of the best features in their character is the strong national spirit that animates them, and the lively interest they take in the fate of their country. The Greeks settled in Russia and Italy, and some of those at Constantinople, have expended a consider able part of their fortunes in supporting schools; and in printing works designed to enlighten their coun trymen. Their sensibility en this subject is, indeed, extraordinary. Mr Hobhoese informs us that on mentioning the name of Riga (who was pat to death by the Turks for exciting his countrymen to a rev*• lution) to a young Greek of high rank, he jamped up from the sofa, and, clasping his hands, repeated the name of the patriot with a thousand passionate exclamations, the tears streaming down his cheeks. They continually reproach the Franks with ingrati• tude, for not assisting them to throw off the Turkish yoke ; asserting that we are indebted to their meets• tors for all the arts and knowledge we possess. Yet, though the deeds of the ancient Greeks live id their memories, and are often in their mouths, they have a very confused and erroneous idea of their character. They associate the glory of their ances tors much more with the empire of Constantine and his successors, than with the Greek republics. And their bigotry has so far perverted their ambi6on, that the overthrow of the Turks would gratify them more as the triumph of their church than as the esta blishment of their independence. In private life, the Greeks have much social feeling ; and, though easy in their manners, are strict observers of forms. Two men, in saluting, first touch their foreheads, then place their right hand on their hearts, and kiss each other. They make the most ceremonious and par ticular inquiries after each other's families. It is rare to find a Greek living single, except as a al dower, for they seldom marry a second time. They are fond of titles and distinctions, in proportion to their want of real strength and dignity of &me ter. Every Archon and Codjabashee, though he has but the shadow of official dignity, is " most il lustrious," or " most noble." A Bishop' is styled " your Beatitude," a priest " your Plolinero." They are avaricious, but they desire money only for the purpose of ostentation. Their veneration for wealth indeed supersedes, in some measure, the strongest natural ties. Children who get rich sometimes employ their fathers as menial set• rants, and are waited upon by thetir at table. Pa rents teach their children tokiss their bandit, and to address them by the title of Signor, which implies superiority, and is, therefore, preferred' to more en• dearing appellations. All classes, but especially the tower, are lively and gay, excessively fluid of dan cing, titusic, and pastimes. They' delight in poetry, and have & remarkable facility in versifying'. Of po pular songs they have a great variety relating to love and' drinking.; some of them written by living tie. than who have distinguished themselves in this spe cies of composition. They have also some pieces of a greater length and of a &malefic form: Their mu sic, which- is plaintive but monotonous, is sung a nasal tone. The fiddle and three stringed guitar are the instruments most in use. Strolling bards, 'still bearing the ancient name of Rhapsodists, fre quent the houses of the wealthy, singing love songs, or celebrating in rude verse the exploits of some warrior, and accompanying their voices with the lyre. Foot races, wrestling, and the disc, are still, as in ancient times, favourite amusements. The Greeks are rarely employed in any military capacity, but they are allowed to be not deficient in courage, though they are easily discouraged by difficulties, and certainly want the constitutional firmness of the Albanians.• The Greeks of the present day, though unques tionably much debased, are rather objects of com passionate sympathy than indignation. The cardinal vices of their character, dissimulation, meanness, and superstition, are so distinctly referable to their political situation, as to warrant a belief that a fa vourable change in the one would speedily be fol lowed by an improvement in the other. Experience tells us that misery and persecution increase men's at tachment to their religion ; and that, among a people so attached to their religion, possessing lively ima ginations, but grossly ignorant, and where the only pittance of knowledge to be found is in the hands of priests, superstition must take root and flourish ; and when we recollect that the national faith of the Greeks, rendered venerable in their eyes by its an tiquity, has descended through a period of fifteen centuries, exposed to the continual action of all the causes that could corrupt it, without one lucid inter val of free inquiry, and diffused knowledge, we can not be surprised that the vital principles of religion have totally disappeared amidst the rubbish of sense less forma, mystical rites, and vain pageantry. Again, with regard to the civil condition of the Greeks, it may be observed, that the slavery in which they are held is of the most demoralizing kind. Uninstruct ed though they be, they are enlightened compared with the Turks. But knowledge, when doomed to dependence.on ignorance and rudeness, unavoidably degenerates into craft and duplicity. Instead of ,raising the character of the individual, it furnishes him with new powers of servility and deceit, and makes him more deeply conscious of the ignominy of his condition. A human being can never feel his self degradation so complete as when he is the slave of another whom he despises. What is still worse in the state of the Greeks, the lord and vassal are se parated by difference of faith ; and the rancour of religious bigotry inflames the contempt and hatred naturally generated between the oppressor and the oppressed. Human nature, in such painful circum stances, has but two resources—resistance at the hazard of extermination, or entire submission. The suffering party must either bend to its hard destiny, and endeavour by flattery, duplicity, and manage ment, to mollify the violence of the oppressor, and by cunning and dissimulation to elude his tyranny ; or it must assume a courage from despair, and ex tort better terms by the obstinacy of its resistance. The Jews, the most degraded portion of European society, illustrate the one case ; the Albanians the other. Though too many of the Greeks have cho sen the less honourable alternative, and have sunk to a state of abasement resembling that of the Jews, they have also shown themselves capable of acting the more rugged and difficult part when favoured by circumstances. The inhabitants of the hilly country
have everywhere forced the Turks to respect their privileges ; and the firm and unconquerable spirit displayed by the Mainotes of the Morea, and the Suliote Greeks, in defence of their rights, is worthy of the most brilliant days of Sparta or Rome. Doubts have been raised unnecessarily whether these people are of the same race with the Greeks of the plains.
Both, however, have the same language and religion, and their manners do not differ farther than local circumstances are sufficient to account for. We see the influence of the same causes exemplified in the Albanians who have settled in the low country ; for these have lost the high and resolute spirit which distinguishes their countrymen, and submit to be in sulted and pillaged by the Turks like their neigh bours the Greeks.
The question regarding the emancipation of the Greeks from the Turkish yoke involves so many col lateral topics, that a long dissertation would be re quired to do justice to it ; and we can only spare room for a few remarks. First, we may observe, that the moral degradation of the Greeks is not necessa rily fatal to their hopes of deliverance. , A sense of common interest, a strong national spirit, and a pow erful feeling of revenge, are the motives that excite men to act in such circumstances ; and all these the Greeks feel the influence of in a considerable degree. They have courage ; and though they want the private virtue and disinterested public zeal ne cessary to build up a free government, it should be recollected that they may be independent without enjoying civil liberty, and yet by such independence their condition would be immensely improved. In the second place, while the Turks are remaining stationary, the Greeks are silently advancing in knowledge, in wealth, in numbers, and in the consci ousness of power ; and their relative situation is thus daily improving. Their lively and susceptible disposition is extremely capable of every species of instruction ; and all the arts and knowledge of western Europe, with all the superiority which these confer, could be communicated to them more easily than to any other people in the same stage of civili zation In the third place, the power of the Turks seems verging to destruction, from the craziness in cident to an old system, which has no means of in ternal renovation, and no power to adapt itself to the changed circumstances of Europe. Their nu merous defeats have destroyed their confidence in themselves. They form but a fraction of the popu lation of Greece ; and though they are accustomed to.
command, and haie the machinery of government in their hands, their force is badly organised, and their torpidity and want of skill neutralize the power they have. In the fourth place, Greece is a mountainous country, abounding in strong positions ; and therefore affording great advantages to a population engaged in desultory warfare. To this we may add, that, in the event of a general insurrection, the commercial marine of the Greeks would soon render them masters by sea ; and, from the nature of the country, this would operate powerfully in their favour.
There cannot remain a doubt, therefore, that a very slight effort would be sufficient to subvert the Turkish power. But the emancipation of the Greeks depends, in some degree, upon a varie ty of other circumstances. First, Greece is unfor tunately occupied by several nations, differing in manners, language, and origin, who have no com mon ties sufficient to unite them firmly together. Setting aside the Bulgarians, who are posted at the . extremity of the country, and the Turks as the com mon enemies of the whole, there are still the Wal lachians, who have entire possession of a considera ble district, besides being dispersed in small portions through the rest of the country ; and the Albanians. formidable by their numbers and energy, masters of two-fifths of the country, and spread in a small pro portion through the whole. These nations, with the Turks, form about one-half of the population. The Greeks, who form the other half, are thus every where mixed with their rivals or their enemies. The Wallachians, though professing the same religion with the Greeks, differ from them in manners and language. The Albanians are not only distinct in manners and language, but regard the Greeks with contempt. Even among the Greeks themselves there are considerable diversities of character. The commercial Greeks of the towns have probably but little affinity with the peasantry, and the Mainotes of the Mores as little with the peasantry of Thes saly and Macedon. All these parties agree in hat ing the Turks; but, it is evident, there are many an tipathies to be removed, and rival interests to be re conciled, before they can be brought to co-operate vigorously. in a common design. Should the Greeks move by themselves, they will find that all who are not for them are against them ; and the Turks, with the usual policy of despotic rulers, will make use of one party to crush the other. But, in the second place, the consolidation of so great a part of Greece under the Pasha of Albania, has given an entirely new aspect to the question regarding the emancipa tion of the Greeks. Albania, for some centuries, has been divided among a number of fierce and warlike tribes or clans, almost independent of the Turks, but engaged in perpetual contests with one another. The union of these hostile tribes, for the first time, under one head by the vigour of Ali, hai necessarily raised up a new and formidable power, which must make itself felt in all the surrounding parts. It is so formidable, indeed, that no great change can now take place in Greece without its concurrence. The two great parties of Greeks and Albanians are, in fact, so placed that their union is essential to the independence of the country, and that union seems to be scarcely possible. So long as All wants the naval means of the Greeks, and while the Turks occupy the southern and eastern part of the country, his power cannot be secure. The two nations are too strongly divided by dissi milarity of character and mutual antipathies to coalesce voluntarily. Nor is it probable that the Albanians, who are stronger for defence than con quest, will be able to reduce Southern Greece by force. The Greeks, on the other hand, would not make any effort for the sake of exchanging the slug gish tyranny of the Turks for the rigorous despotism of the Pasha. Were they to attempt to liberate themselves, Ali's sagacity would teach him to regard such a step as injurious to his interest ; for, though it would weaken the common enemy the Turks, it would raise up a new power much more formidable to him. To all appearance, therefore, the power of the Turks in Greece, so far as depends on these causes, may maintain itself some time longer, by means of the mutual jealousies of its domestic ene mies.