The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-18 00:00:00

71THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 18, 1862

SECOND EDITION, REVISED,
Now ready, in 2 vols. Bvo., with Portrait,
THE LIFE OF EDWARD IRVING, Minister
of the National Scotch Church, London. Illustrated 15
his JOURNAL and CORRESPONDENCE. By Mrs. OLIPHANT.
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There was Egina on the left and Salamis right in
front, and by degrees Mount Hvmettus, the Acro-
polis, the Royal Palace, and the town, one by one
unfolded themselves, till at last, after another turn
of the wheel, a forest of masts revealed the port of
Piraeus. All eyes were eagerly turned in that
direction, for mt‘ity were the masts, nd so majestic
as to leave no doubt of their belonging to large men-
of-war. A three decker, with the red ensign on
the foremast, is the Marlborough, with Admiral
Martin on board; close by, a two decker, you can
see from the figure-head it is the Queen. To the
left a large corvette, the Pelican ; beyond, a large
French frigate, the Zenobie, with the ensign of a
rear-admiral; further on, another French man of-
war, and then an Austrian, and among them all the
Greek steam frigate Amelia, in which the King had
started on his last cruise about Greece, and round
her a number of smaller vessels—corvettes, sloops,
and gunboats. The sung harbour can scarcely hold
them all.

But beyond this large display of naval force no-
thing seems chanced. Tho anchor is not yet down
when off come the boats of the men-of-war, Is usual,
for their mails, and, mixed up with them, the host
of shore boats with their crews, as usual, clamour-
ing, pressing, running against each other, and try-
ing to entice passengers by that wonderful display
of polyglot eloquence which the influx of Western
travellers has taught the boatmen of the Levant.
They scarcely wait for the departure, much less for
the return, of the dour and commissaire with the
-bill of health and by ...itches. Up they rush in
a motley crowd, and with them the commissionaires
of

the different hotels of Athens. The first lay
hands on you and your luggage, vociferating, quar-
relling, Coaxing, the latter shove their printed cards
into your face. Hotel des Etradgers, Hotel de
l'Orient, Hotel de la Couronne, goes the story which
you know so well by heart. It is just the same as
of old, at any rate the revolution has not changed
these your •tormentors, that is clear. Let us hope
your rambles in the East have imparted to you true
Osmanli composure and dignity, for if you get:ner-
vous or out of temper you are lost, and become an
easy prey.

But what has become of our Greek friends on
board? Let us have a glance at them before leaving.
Surely so many exiles and patriots belonging to so
demonstrative a people cannot return to their homes
without finding some friends waiting for them. If
only for the sake of a contrast don't let us lose the
chance of seeing some traces of the more tender
human feelings on those faces which we have only
seen glowing with political excitement for the last
two days. Alas, the excitement of political tri-
umphs is egotistical, it absorbs the whole being of
men haying no room for any other feeling. Those
friends who might have been expected to come down
are probably intoxicating themselves with politics,
listening, talking, watching for news, doing any-
thing rather than thinking of friends returning, so
our friends do as you or I do—make bargains with
boatmen, and get their traps taken down.
Losing or fallen causes are far more favourable to
outbursts of affection than triumphant ones, as you
lady, whom you
young
Greek. She
nervousness she has
can
has
would see
excitedn by yv e
ryour that
haveou r fair-haired
interest
suspected
b y y
theoo
shown ever since the vessel arrived in port, going
from side to aide, and looking eagerly at every boat
which was approaching. She is still enough now,
leaning overboard as far as she can, anti gazing
fondly at an old gentleman and lady and two pretty
girl who are down below in a boat. She never at-
tempts to speak, but the smile in her face and the
tears in her eyes tell their tale, and so does the boat
down below tell its tale—it is French, there can be
no mistake ; they are a family who have taken re-
fuge under French colours.

The boatman is getting impatient, so let us be off.
You take the helm, and steer, as you used to do,
to the part of the quay at the head of the harbour,

" Not that way," says your boatman, " but to the
Dogana."' This is new. Whatever other faults the
late Government had, it was liberal enough to tra-
vellers. You and your luggage were free to land
and go wherever you pleased; no questions were
ever asked.

You arrived at the Dogana, which is to the righ
hand of the harbour, and the first sight which meets
you is that of a number of armed civilians standing
about the place. They are the improvised National
Guard of the town of Piraeus, mostly young men
under 20, and evidently belonging to the wealthier
classes. Every one has adopted some distinctive
sign, with not much regard to uniformity. Blue
scarfs, red scarfs, blue muslin or red ones round their
wide-awakes, red ribands or tricolour ones, white,
red, and blue, in their buttonholes. They under-
stand their mission, for they keep off the rowdies
who crowd about you and your luggage. A civil (!)
dho
eulpa
s y'nleoru aheglpasin to you
sthouotptehneymouurpt.rudas, and having
looked at them without turning out everything,
Outside are the hackney coachmen, eager for prey,
as of old, every one anxious to set forth the advan-
tages of his own vehicle. You choose, and off starts
in a gallop your triumphant Sehu. You look about
you as you pass through the town of Piraeus. There
are the idlers before the coffee and wine shops as of
old ; the artisans in their workshops, neither more
sot
hueex lookt toll
citedll
b atat
cl Itkahnfer uoosmuu
tatshlk. r
itYsi
100 l uf
or
ntehowea chthioemwh an stops
morentoo
e
town
uonacree
rolls down at a
to the town and harbour behind, and your carriage
rP aleysy
dusty than
since
the
rapid pace into the plain which
separates Athens from the Piraeus. It is rather
m
usual,for
revolution
; basbuateni
light
rain for several months, and the watering has
been ore
discontinued
and left the labourers are busy clearing the dust
away from the roots of the young trees, and bank-
ing it. up all round so as to form a trough for
the water, which they may hope for in less busy
times. As you go along you meet with num-
bers of carriages on their way to the port. They
are crowded with passengers and luggage, and
you are told they are German followers of
the ex-King, who are leaving for Trieste by the
Austrian steamer. They are palace servants,
domestics, chaplains, &c., and are well known
to all those they meet. But not a sign of ani-
mosity can you see against them from any of '
those National Guards, soldiers, or others, who
crowd the open omnibuses or drive by in hackney
coaches. They seem scarcely to notice them. This
is a good sign, for it shows that party spirit never
ran very high. The triumph has been so easy and
so complete that it left scarcely time for the rousing
of popular passions.
I had a further proof of this on the road. Seeing
a little boy, evidently belonging to the better
classes, running along the road towards Athens, I
took him up. The coachman told me he was the
son of one of the higher officers, who was known as
an ardent partisan of the King's. When we ar-
rived at the halfway-house on the road where they
water the horses, the publican asked the boy about
his father, just as if nothing had passed—whether
he had gone with the " skoufos," as the King was
nicknamed, or what had become of him. The boy's
answers were just as natural; he told him he had
escaped in an open boat. The conversation could
not have been less excited if " papa" had simply
gone to a watering-place.
The same absence or forgetfulness of all ill-feeling
struck me likewise from the very first moment of
my entrance into Athens. There were the gendarmes
and the cavalry soldiers, who held out longest in the
gu
Knowing the excitable and demonstrative charac-
ter of my Athenians, I expected to find that they
had made the most of the occasion to celebrate
with decorations, flags, and flowers so auspicious an
vr
Naples, and Palermo,
and all the rest of Italy during those first holydays
of freedom,--never to be forgotten by any one who
witnessed them—W I
hen men, women, and children,
andset event. nl
ce
red for.
remembered Milan, mixed up with other passers-by, unnoticed

houses, and streets, seemed all to celebrate the great
feast of redemption. I looked right and left as I
entered the street of Hermes, which leads straight
towards the Palace, but found nothing of the kind
here. All was as usual in its everyday business
garb—men, women, houses and streets—the people
at work everywhere, and nowhere a trace that
anything rather uncommon—such, for instance,
as a change of dynasty—had taken place a week
ago. But at the western entrance of Athens lies a
poor part of the town. I thought, let us wait till
we get to the so-called "Four Reads," where t he street
of Hermes is intersected by the long street which
runs from the Temple of the Winds across the town
into the Patissia road. This is the most crowded
and central point—the connecting artery between
the new town, to the north-west, and the old town,
which nestles at the foot of the Acropolis. There
is the cafe of the 11paca EXXar, the head-quarters of
Young Greece, which even in ordinary times is the
rendezvous of the crowd eager for news. Well,
the crowd there was a little larger than usual, and
the addition consisted of country people who were
gazing at a caricature rudely drawn and posted up
on the wall, representing the heroes of the late
events divesting King Otho of his fustanella and
the rest of his Greek finery, while the Queen, in
the coiner, is wringing her hands in despair.
Not much more fruitful in novelties was the rest
of my drive to the hotel. The result of my search
may be summed up in a number of pictures and pho-
tographs of Grivas—with well,gummed moustache
and imperial, reminding one rather of the Emperor
Napoleon—a few broken gas lamps, a large quantity
of red and tricolour ribands in the button-holes of
the passers-by, and posts of students doing duty
as National Guards at the Bank and at the chief
guardhouse. The most timid of diplomatists and
the most petrified of Conservatives could scarcely be
frightened by the violence of the changes, and talk
of anarchy and dangers to the foundations of
society ; while the believer in popular rights could
not but hail this dearth as a symptom that the
Greeks were determined to show to the world that
they could be safely entrusted with self-govern-
ment even under exceptional circumstances.
I sauntered out again towards evening. The
crowd had considerably increased, but this is always
the case in these warm climates. The only thing
unusual seemed to be the large proportion of the mili-
tary in thecrowd. They were as quiet and orderly as
the rest ; not a traca of excitement or drunkenness ;
but, considering that there are little more than 1,200
or 1,500 troops of every kind in the town, they mus-
tered strong in the streets. The explanation of
this was to be found in the circumstance that it was
their last holyday. The success of the revolution
being in a great measure due to their joining the
people, it was difficult to tighten the bands of dis-
cipline at once, espcially as the infantry, above all,
contains a large number of recruits. Nothing seems
so hard to the young soldier as the constraint im-
posed upon the freedom of locomotion to which he
has been accustomed, and it was to be expected
that he would make the most of the opportu-
nity offered to him by the late events. To-day was
appointed for the taking of the oath to the Provi-
sional Government, so that the anomalous position

in which the army has found itself for the last 10
days is at end.
The Provisional Government, fully aware of the
danger which threatened the country if the army
was left much longer in its late amphibious state;
having violated its oath to the late King, and not
having bound itself to any one else, chose to-day,
as the first Sunday since things returned to -their
normal state, to get the ceremony over, and at the
same time endeavoured to give it all the solemnity
which it could get up for the occasion, The place
chosen was the so-called Polygon, on the right hand
of the road to Patissia (the Champ de Mars of the
garrison of Athens).
And difficult indeed would it be to find a place in
the world more impressive or superior in beauty
and historical associations. Standing between the
north-westerly slopes of Mount Lycabettus and the
slopes of another of those isolated limestone hills
which are so remarkable a feature in the plain of
Attica, and with Mount Hymettus closing in the
background, you are in a natural amphitheatre,
from which the eye can embrace at one glance the
whole plain down to the sea, and beyond it the
islands of Salamis and Egina. Every inch of that
ground is hallowed, and recalls some of the proudest
recollections in the history of humanity. To your
right towers Mount Parnes, sending down the low
spur which encloses Attica on that side and sepa-
rates it from the plain of Eleusis. At your feet ex-
tend the olive groves, watered by the Cephissus, and
with the sacred road of Eleusis passes through them,
while beyond them you see the two harbours, the
Pindus and Phalerian, the sea, Egina and Salamis,
and the mountains of Megara and Cytheron. To
the left the whole town unlolds itself, backed up by
the Acropolis, the Areopagus, the Museion. You
need only have once seen these bold and yet grace-
ful outlines, with that unique rosy tinge upon them
which the setting sun imparts to everything in the
Greek Archipelago, in order to understand why the
Athenians of old had such an eye for beauty and
harmony. Even all the dust and haze which filled
the scene this afternoon when the ceremony took
place could scarcely detract from the beauty of it.
But I am afraid it was lost both upon the actors and
spectators of the ceremony ; their minds were else.
where. Where they were I do not think I can tell.
Any one not knowing the Greeks would probably
at first sight have jumped to the conclusion that
they were everywhere except in the ceremony itself.
The troops lining the place all round, yawning and
stretching themselves, as if bored by the perfor-
mance ; the officers in the circle reserved for them
imitating the soldiers, or else chattering and loung-
ing about like spectators in reserved seats, the spec-
tators, with few exceptions, showing little more
interest than the actors themselves, looking out from
their carriages at each other or at the passers-by,
and if on foot strolling about listlessly, and all the
while the religious ceremony going on in the open
pavilion in the centre, which is used in ordinary
times for the band of music on the Sunday afternoon.
Yet it would have been very wrong to make hasty
conclusions. The character of Eastern Christians
contains a measure of excitement and indolence
which does not admit of that power of concentra-
tion which Mussulmans exhibit in so striking a
manner in all their religious ceremonies, but is not
lets earnest and sincere in its belief. Look at those
selfsame Christians in church. They make the pre-
scribed number of crosses and genuflexions on en-
tering, and then seem altogether to forget that they
are in a place of worship until the consecration of
the Host becomes the signal for more crossings. All
the rest is a spectacle for them, yet try to touch any
of these forms and every one of them is ready to
become a martyr in their defence.
In this case, too, it was not all listlessness, as
could be seen when the Archbishop and President
of the Synod, having consecrated the colours and put
on them the red streamers, addressed the bystand-
ers, and admonished them to trust in God and them-
selves, and unite in brotherly harmony, and when,
towards the end of his speech, be took off the
black
the
veil and hood, and displayed his gray
hair
the hum
His words coulda to
winds, you saw every head uncovered, a
only be
subsided in a dead silence.
heard by those close by, but the figure
looked
that famous Archbishop Germanos,
of ratrals, who
Cross in 1821, and
first raised the standard of the
whose picture, in the prime of
in manhood, you saw
front, was again
displayed on the triumphaolniy
by
which
the natural effect
raising his voice, changed
had
passed since, and then
again when, after
of the 40 years
the
religious ceremony, the whole
synod with cross and crozier administered the oath
old soldiers, at first some hesi-
tation the
above all, among
the hand and closinglthe three
tation about raulang_in
to orthodox custom. It
seemed acoord
first g rather ashamed, but
seemed 0 u they were by and
to one body of troops after another. There seemed

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by one after another yielded to the influence, until
at the end the cheers rung forth unanimously,
showing that the spell had taken effect.
Anyone accustomed to the minute etiquette of
military ceremonials in the west would have been
shocked at the Bashi-Bi.izonk way of keeping the
ground. The public circulated freely before and
between the lines of troops, friends and acquaint=
ances talking to each other as if the soldiers were
themselves spectators—not actors. Even the pavilion
where the religious ceremony took place was in-
vaded by a motley crowd of men, women, officers,
and country people. It could scarcely be otherwise
in this most democratic of countries, where even
the lowest peasant cannot be made to understand
difference of birth, and where " ASeXye" is the most
commonly used apostrophe among all classes,

scarcely accepting officers and soldiers.
Among the most interesting portions of the dis-
play were the veteran officers of the War of Inde-
pendence, and the battalion of National Guards
formed by the Univerity. They were drawn up in
a line close to each other, symbols, as it were, of the
part and future of Greece ; the former in their pie-

turesque Albardan costume, which has been
nationalized in Greece, looking weatherworn, and

exhibiting the true Palikari type, with the long
moustache, which has been popularised in pictures;
the latter all Europeanized in features and dress,
and only distinguished now by their sashes
or cockades from the passers-by. These youths
and their teachers have played a considerable part
in ',lie whole movement; they were the first to
come forward and form themselves into a guard of
public security ; they have taken up the matter with
all the enthusiasm of youth ; they were of great
assistance in maintaining order in critical moments;
they have' been indefatigable in mounting guard
and patrolling, while all their spare time has been
devoted to drilling. I saw them come in, and was
quite astonished to see the progress they had made
in so short a time.
The ceremony over, a banquet was given to the
troops on the ground. In front of the pavilion,
where the religious ceremony had taken place, a
raised platform had been erected, surmounted by a
double row of columns, and covered in so as to form
another open pavilion. This was reserved for the
members of the Provisional Government and the
superior officers. Right and left the rest of the
officers were accommodated, while in a semicircle in
front, under open arcades festooned with laurels
and myrtles, the soldiers sat down to a feast of roast
mutton and wine.
There I left them, weary as I was with the dust
and bustle inside, to take a stroll towards the temple
of the Olympian Jupiter at the other end of the
town. Deserted as it was, the complete silence
which surrounded it made it appear even grander
than usual. The report of musket shots soon after
announced the breaking up of the feast, and I has-
tened back, rather curious to ascertain what the
effect of the feast on the troops may have been.
Precautions had been taken to prevent disorder and
get the troops back to the barracks, but it seemed
problematical whether the precautions would be of
avail.

Wasting powder by firing in the air is a mania
common to all Eastern peoples. No feast seems o
them complete without this accompaniment. Turkish
towns during the Bairam, and Greek towns at Easter
become a positive nuisance on this account; and,
what with the excitement and carelessness, not a
festival of this kind passes without accident. Care
had been taken that the soldiers should have no
cartridges, but the stray shots which I had heard left
little doubt that all the cartridges served out during
the movement had not been expended, and thatthe
orders as to not firing could not be strictly en-
forced.
Still the thing was better than could be expected.
The Minister of War, Colonel Mavromichali, had
placed himself, with a numerous stuff, at the head
of the two infantry battalions, and accompanied
them, amid the " zetos" of the population, to their
barracks, without leaving them time to stray or fire
away powder. The shots came from the detached
bodies of Artillery, who, being with the Sappers
and Miners the heroes of the day, indulged freely in
this pastime after they left the main column to re-
turn to their barracks. However, the whole thing
was harmless enough, and I have not heard of a
single accident.
The best proof that the affair was well managed
seemed to me that I did not see above a dozen strag-
glers after the troops had returned to their barracks,
and in these not a trace of rioting or drunkenness.
By 8 p.m., when I went out, everything was as still
as in the most quiet times, and only now and then
a "'l'm EL;" from a National Guard sentry reminded
you that Athens was not quite slumbering like the
capital of a little German kingdom.
Such I found Athens ten days after the revolution.
A Birkenhead Garibaldi riot, or a well contested
election—such, for instance, as Colonel O'Reilly's
—has probably left more visible traces than the
change of dynasty has here produced. The Provi-
sional Government was right in its first proclama-
tion. Il n'y a qu' un Bavarois de mins.