the difficulty of then obtaining sound information on reasonable terms and within manageable compass. Mr. Britton's works are, in themselves, a library of reference and instruction on the subjects of which they treat.

The second and third chapters contain the ichnographical and descriptive details, which we should, of course, find it nearly impracticable to make intelligible without the aid of diagrams, but which become extremely interesting when illustrated by inspection of the clear and expressive outline plates that accompany the volume. These present the general and particular arrangement in multiplied points of view; plan, section, and perspective elucidate each other; while vases, cinerary urns, the Belzoni sarcophagus, and other remarkable antiquities have distinct representations.

The remainder of the volume relates chiefly to the National Debt Redemption Office and the Royal Entrance to the House of Peers; to each of which is assigned, among the plates, a plan, a section, and a perspective view.

A chapter is assigned to the contents of the house', and contains references to the antiquities, pictures, and books, of which Mr. Soane has made a large and curious collection.

Some exquisite wood-cuts, by Harvey and Branston, are inserted as vignettes, and a richly coloured Interior of the 'Monk's 'Room', forms a frontispiece. Considering the number and quality of the embellishments, Mr. Britton can hardly have affixed to the volume a remunerating price.

Art. IV. 1. Letters from the Egean. By James Emerson, Esq. 2 Vols. Small 8vo. pp. 510. Price 18s. London. 1829.

2. Letters from Greece, with Remarks on the Treaty of Intervention. By Edward Blaquiere, Esq., Author of "An Historical Account of the Greek Revolution", &c. 8vo. pp. lxii, 352. London. 1828. 3. Narrative of an Excursion from Corfu to Smyrna, comprising a Progress through Albania and the North of Greece, with some account of Athens, descriptive of the ancient and present State of that City. To which is annexed, a Translation of the Erastae of Plato. By the Author of "Letters from Palestine." 8vo. pp. xvi, 272. Price 10s. 6d. London. 1827.

WE fear that, with the credit of the Greek nation, all sympathy in their fate has sunk, in this country, to a very low ebb. The battle of Navarino recalled for a moment the languid attention of the public to the shores of the Ægean; but that momentary excitement soon faded away, and the political changes which have since taken place, are all against them. The tardy intervention of the Three Great Powers has checked

the barbarous work of extermination before it was quite consummated; but the country is ruined; its moral energies have been exhausted in the protracted struggle which has destroyed alike its commercial and its physical resources; and there are scarcely materials left from which to construct either a government or a nation to be governed. It seems, in fact, to be now pretty generally understood by all parties, that nothing is to be got out of Greece, nothing to be gained by espousing the cause of a bankrupt country; and this fatal discovery, so mortifying to our Stock Exchange Philhellenists, and to other speculating adventurers, has produced a vindictive hostility towards the unfortunate Greeks. With the exception of Mr. Blaquiere, whom we regard as the most sincere, upright, and disinterested friend their cause has found, and who still remains staunch to their falling fortunes and unpopular interests, there are scarcely any of their quondam partizans and would-be regenerators in this country, who have not backed out of the field, or silently abandoned the hopeless adventure. Even the tone of Mr. Emerson is not a little changed since he drew his ' Picture of Greece' in 1825; and he seems to have become almost as warm an admirer of the Turks as Sir William Gell himself. At the same time, other writers have been busily and not very honourably employed in writing down the character and cause of the poor Greeks: among whom, a Mr. Philip James Green, a trading Consul at Patras, who stands charged by the Greeks with supplying the Turkish garrisons with provisions, has put forth a work entitled "Sketches of the War in Greece", in which the lofty pretension to superior accuracy is combined with the most discreditable unfairness of statement and a spirit of rancorous hostility against the Greeks. A writer, indeed, who complains of ill treatment on the part of the nation to whom he affects to do justice, on the one hand, and who, on the other, lies under the imputation of having been the secret ally of their oppressors and enemies, is not exactly the individual from whom we should expect an impartial estimate of the claims and condition of the Greeks.

The annals of a civil contest, under the most favourable circumstances, must always present details sufficiently revolting. But when an enslaved people have risen upon their oppressors, under the maddening impulse of national animosity and a keen, vindictive sense of injury, joined to religious hatred,-all the worst passions are at once let loose; and that must be a master spirit indeed, which could ride in the whirlwind and direct the storm. A people accustomed to be ruled by laws, may still preserve, amid the dissolution of the existing government, the character of a civilized society,-a respect for the fundamental laws of social order, and a spirit of subordination and union.

VOL. I.-N.S.

H H

But a people governed only by force, when the external pressure of the iron yoke is removed, are left to the wayward guidance of their passions, or the varying current of popular feeling. It is only in the first stage of such a contest, that a strong national enthusiasm, directing the united energies of the million to a common object, can be expected to supply the place of that power which is alone competent to maintain and direct a regular movement in the complicated machinery of society. Great leaders are sometimes created and called forth by such an occasion; but, in a protracted struggle, these too often perish, and leave no successors. Such has been the case with the Greeks. When the ardour which at first placed arms in the hands of the clergy, and even of women, had passed away,when revenge had become satiated, the love of glory had been cooled by suffering, and there was no longer any booty to be seized, any pay to be obtained,-then, the natural consequence ensued; the leaders fell out among themselves, and paper laws and a theoretical government were in vain had recourse to, as a remedy for the disorganization which must attend the sudden dissolution of society into its first elements. The worst effect of despotism is, that it unfits a people for freedom, by exacting implicit and servile subjection,-a totally different thing from the principle of self-government, which is obedience. Thus, when tyranny is overthrown, it bequeaths a poisoned robe to its conqueror.

The Greeks have been every way unfortunate: they have had every thing against them, but the imbecility of their late masters, the strength of the country itself, and the Providence of Heaven. Whoever reads with candour the history of the struggle, must regard its being thus long maintained as next to a political miracle. It is hard to say, whether their cause has suffered most from internal factions or from foreign intrigues;-whether it has been more injured by open enemies or by false friends;by the undisguised hostility of the Austrian Government, the hollow and treacherous patronage of Russia, or the sinister intermeddling of English loan-contractors and liberals. It was not, indeed, till the contest had continued nearly three years, that any effort was made in this country in behalf of the Greeks; and then, unhappily, it was made a party question. Up to that time, the decided manner in which Lord Castlereagh had declared against the cause, and the unambiguous hostility of the Ionian Government, had excited, very generally, in the minds of the Greeks themselves, and in part justified, a suspicious and unfriendly feeling towards this country. And when their cause was at length taken up in England, and a Greek Committee was formed, the party character of that Committee, and its miserable mismanagement, precluded the success of an appeal,

which would otherwise have been irresistible, to the humanity of the British Government and nation. Upon the disgraceful business of the two Greek loans, and their ill-fated misapplication, we have no wish to enlarge; and we commend the forbearance and address of Mr. Blaquiere, in so dexterously disposing of the unpleasant topic in the following note, intended, as it should seem, to stop the mouth of Brother Jonathan upon the subject.

Though the feeling in favour of Greece, which prevailed for some time in the United States, was much more intense than in England, the subscriptions there have not been so liberal as might be expected. With respect to the transaction of the frigates, it was fully as disgraceful to all the parties concerned, as the most flagrant acts of their coadjutors on this side the Atlantic; and like them, reflects as much discredit on the national character of America as on that of England. It is really lamentable to think, that men should be found in either country, capable of thus sacrificing every principle of integrity and honour to their avarice and rapacity.

'I am aware that many persons, for whose opinions I entertain the utmost respect, will censure me for not entering into more ample details on the subject of the Greek Loans: but I still feel that they will more properly form a separate Work; and, as already stated, I shall leave the task of more minute exposure to others. A friend of the Greek cause, who is intimately acquainted with all the facts, especially those relative to the Second Loan, after expostulating with me on the determination I had formed, exclaimed-" You are the best judge; but I can only say, that if you omit this necessary inquiry, you conceal one of the most nefarious transactions that ever occurred in any country!" Happily for the friends of virtue and humanity, the disgrace brought on the national character of England, by these transactions, has been neutralized, if not obliterated, by the Treaty of Intervention.' pp. xxii, xxiii.

Into the history of the Greek Revolution, it is not now our purpose to enter; nor shall we at present engage in the discussion of the political questions involved in the beneficent intervention which has at length been agreed upon. We must content ourselves with referring our readers to Mr. Blaquiere's volume for the most recent details of an historical nature, as well as for the fairest exposé of the present state of the country. There is no attempt, in either this or the Author's former volumes, to conceal the real difficulties and exigencies of the case. While he is the benevolent advocate of the Greek people, he deplores the incapacity or want of principle which has characterized, for the most part, the men into whose hands the power and government have from time to time fallen; and he acknowledges, that what that unhappy country most immediately stands in need of, is such a government as may be best 'suited to a people emerging from ignorance and oppression'.

When I left Greece', he says, ' in 1824, there was a Government and a Legislative Assembly, which appeared to be acting for the common interest; the first instalment of the loan contracted for in London had arrived, and there was every hope that the war would thenceforth be carried on with vigour. As if, however, the only means by which the contest could be successfully maintained, according to the oft-repeated assertions of the Greeks themselves, and the opinion of all their foreign friends, were destined to become an apple of discord, and paralyse their best energies; it is truly mortifying to reflect, that scarcely a single victory has graced the annals of this interesting struggle, subsequent to the arrival of the supplies alluded to. Although it would require a volume to narrate all that has taken place within the above period, I shall merely state a few leading facts, in order that you may be enabled to form a general notion of what has led to the present state of affairs.

You are already acquainted with the various dissensions which preceded the nomination of Conduriottis to the Presidency. This event had scarcely been announced, when it aroused the jealousy of some of the Moreote leaders. When, however, the partiality shewn towards the fleet, in preference to the army, and to the Hydriots in particular, became evident, several angry remonstrances were addressed to the new government: instead of these producing any effect, they only served to create additional irritation, which was soon followed by the open defection of Colocotroni and nearly all the Primates. The nation having thus become completely divided against itself, no wonder at the successes of Ibrahim Pacha. The liberation of the dissentient chiefs from the monastery of Saint Elias, in Hydra, where they had been confined, did not serve to restore confidence, so that the Egyptian army was allowed freely to traverse the Morea without opposition. The fate of Messolonghi, by far the most terrific event of the revolution, is known to you; it was the natural result of the divisions of the Peloponnesus. The French colonel, Fabvier, who had been intrusted with the organization of regular troops, instead of proceeding to the relief of Messolonghi, undertook an expedition to Negropont, where his corps was defeated and dispersed. The government of Conduriottis, unfortunate in all its measures, and abandoned on every side, had no other alternative but that of appealing to England. Hence the famous offer of the Protectorate. I should have observed, that the formation of a party at this period, under the alleged auspices of the Duke of Orleans, served not a little to distract the counsels, and paralyse the efforts which might have been otherwise made to check the progress of Ibrahim Pacha. It is to be regretted, that this scheme found several partizans among those who were previously regarded as possessing some share of common sense and patriotism. Here it may be as well to add, that this notion has passed away, and that if it has any advocates left, they are both few in number, and without a particle of influence.

The assemblage of a general Congress at Epidaurus, in the summer of last year, was a memorable event in the history of the Greek struggle, since it has led to a degree of animosity among the civil and military leaders, which, I venture to predict, nothing but foreign inter