The National Register.
London, England, 1809-08-20 00:00:00

THE N ITIONAL REGISTER.

her troops are to be employed ie the ihsinemberment of
that empire.
But we cannot cre.lit the nnaccomitable tile, we cannot
believe that whilst Russia and France arc united in a systee,
which goes to divide Europe piece-meal, that Austria v
iii
stand like a waiting lackey to serve at the repast, humbly
hoping that cromlis may drop to forea her indemnification
out of the generill magazine of plunder. This would be
descend mg indeed from the Irish ground she has ;vs:tined..
of maintaining the Ist; reninnnt of liberty on the Continen:
this would he adding imprudence to ilc:2:radation, for whilst
she was sharmg iri the golden fleece, it is more than pro-
bable that her talons would be entangled in the burthen.—
iller army employed in maintaining her conquest over a
people el:waled an.! enconraged in an e• Orly antipathy to
her power, would last dissolve; hf.,r military discipline
would decline, tier po!mlation :IA the ties which
connect the governors anti the subj:Tts, being neither dra
.so close. or so well .tr ranged as formerly, she would in all
probability, at some fut ere and not very clis•,aut period, be
taught akin with her plunders, and converted into a coin -
woo tf,rev.
'Ent our connexion with the Ottoman Fnp'.re renders the
possib]lity of this measure somfything moue than I tilaticY
et. reprobation, ()seven or cnriosity. Whilst history
ith how munch ease A.da Minor may he over-run v: Len
attacked styf2rior vigour, the history of the Crucides
has Ociponstrated on the other hand,t hat the w hole of ilurope
in vain e:s:ert ac;et together to suiii!sit, it, when
tiefendcd with a like vigour. It may, indeed, afforl matter
for speeulation, how tar soccexs attending the project of
dismembering the Empire of th. .`!..ultau may be advan-
tageous to mankird.
Greece in the hands of a great European power, would,
in the course of ye7tes, recover in all probability, some 01
its former splendour, hit it would not. perhaps be (tan-
s-crous. It is too far from France to form an intearal
-0
part of that Einpiie ; and if it did not. the connexion. to
I,e!mluent, most he with some other powers—that
yo..ter, we arc told, is to be Atis:,ria. It is not for the in-
teri si of the homan mind that the finest portion of the •
globe, the Land. every spot of which is pregnant' with re-
tititi.brances of science and of so;;;, the laud of the sage
nod the warrior, should continue to be pressed down by
the weWit, of cacti a Government as that of the Turks.
Even the mind is shackled in the regimnt of despotism,
lihertv is, front its very nature, spontaaconsly
pro- f
; to be assured of this, we have °my to compare the
enterprises, both of body and mind, formerly exhibited by
a few small communities of Greece a:id of Asia, with
those which hale been exhibited by the immense domi-
nions of dequit.sin in which they have been for ages im-
merse:l. 'Fins emit rast will be found more remarkable in
several points of view, as the Ni:ihomeilan i:roprietiirs of
these very dominions in the middle age 3 (during which
they enjoyed a certain portion of freedom, muted with
their religious enth:.siaam), were not only memorable for
feat; of arms (which carried terror to the gates of Vienna),
but were for some time signalized in science, in agricul-
ture, and in arts, till the night of general desi•otivn return
to daiken them. The people of the Morca still talk of
their ancestors, and they will flock round the first stsiodard •
that is displayed ag-ainst a government that produces only
slavery and oppression. But the total overthrow of the
Turkish power will, we conceive, be a work of no slight
difficulty. The physical strength of a country of 16.'1,060
square miles, in which almost every MU is a so'dier, is not
easily ewiquered. There is a fund of strength in the country
which perhaps clothier, but despair and religious e-Jhosiastn
can elicit, but which, Vk hen once put into motion, wilt for a
time, like an immense torrent, sweep all before it. A
lized nation defeated, only becomes more anxious to pre-
serve what is left. and capitulates to the conqueror. A
barbarous nation sees no alternative bet we ct independence
and annihilation, It has no concern about consequences, it
adopts ao cautious measures, but collects its.last strength