The Sun.
London, England, 1821-10-19 00:00:00

l\la. EDlTor.,—lna former communication,
I enumerated many important services rendered
by the Greeks to civilization ; and I believe no.
person ever yet thought of denying the claims of
ancient Greece, the classic land of the' arts and
of liberty, to the gratitude of civilized nations,
to whom she gave both the precept and the
example, and who could not, and cannot do bet-
ter than follow the models which have been left
them. But the modern Greeks have, in addi-
t;on, special rights, to the gratitude of Europeans,
and need not bring forward the recollections of
Athens in support of their pretensions. This
celebrated town was eclipsed by Rome, which
rose to pre-eminence on her ruins ; but the latter
was in her turn despoiled by Constantinople,
where the Greeks re-appeared with some degree
of splendour, and made the arts and letters flou-
rish again a second time. As a great number of
Roman families had been transported into new
Byzantium by Constantine, that which in reality
was the Greek, for a long time was called the
Roman Empire. The historians of the Low Em-
pire wished that their countrymen should be
considered Romans, and gave, them no other
name, which has been, however, disputed with
reason. This appellation reminded the reader
of the masters of the world, and seemed to impart
a portion of their glory to the Byzantines : and,
doubtless, this was the motive which induced the
Greeks to persist in appropriating it, but the
glory which they so ambitiously coveted had its
source in Athens, and that' which the Romans-
acquired was neither so splendid nor so durable,
because in. Greece the influence of the arts, and
the enthusiasm they inspired, were the means of
producing chefs-d'ceuvre of all kinds. Victory
and conquests only render a nation immortal,
as long as she possesses poets, historians, and
artists to hand down to posterity records and.
representations of them. Without shining so re-
splendently as. Rome, Constantinople was not
however devoid of lustre ; but as she .was in-
debted for it to her admirable position, to the
monuments which ornamented her, there was, in
fact, more of splendour in it than of true glory.
To form an adequate idea of the perfection which
the arts had reached in this magnificent capital,
we refer to the description given °fit by NICETAS,
at the period when the crusaders- got possession
of the town.

Constantinople was the asylum of. the sciences
and of letters, whilst Europe was plunged in bar-
barous ignorance. The schism which separated
the Greeks froth the Latins inspired both parties
with mutual hatred, put almost an entire stop to
all communications, and rendered scarce and dif-
ficult that intercourse which is so essential to the
progress of civilization. The fall'of the empire
compelled many Greeks to take refuge in Europe,
and was thecause of the revival of letters. "This
restoration would havemade little progress," says
COMNENUS " if Constantinople had not been
" taken and sacked by IVlAno*ur 11., and we
" should not have been again enabled to say
44 Graxia capta ferum victorem cepit, et artes
" lntulit agresti Latio.
44 For this event obliged LASCARIS, CHRYSA;•
LOr:-US. CHALCONDILUS, BESSAnIOIJ, MARUL-.
" Lush in 'one word, all the learned men of
"Greece, to withdraw. for safety into the King-
" doms of Europe, and they carried with them
c'
,all. the ancient authors, without which we
".could not have made further progress." This
was paying at too dear a rate for an advantage
which might have been'obtained on more easy
terms by reconciling the Greeks and the Latins.
The emigration, hOWever, was so considerable
that, according to the: testimony of a cotemporary
author, you might at Rome have fancied your-
self at Athens, so .ve4^s,- common did the Greek
•language become in a l'hort•tithe. The removal
of the ancient authois from by
ConstantinOple
the .G reeks was the most favourable con_ sequence
of itn event iii every other respect'SerdisaStrous :
the benefit resulting from it was real, and is in-
contestible : and' we.are indebted to the Modern
Greeks for all the delightful pleasure we derive
from' the arts and froM letterS? The value of
these treasures did not long remain unknown,
or unprofitable : their beneficial effects were
'soon' felt ; and the rapid progress of the
human mind, at the beginning of the fifteenth
century, which was, however, suddenly arrested'
by the religious Wars, would be inexplicable but
for the impulsion given
.by . the refugees from
Constantinople. • This period, which .cOmprises.
rather more than half a century, deserves an
historian it is as it were isolated from that which
goes before and that Which comes after it; it
prepared the way for the Augustan age of this
country and of France, because "the impulse it
gave was outs 4010nd:ed.._ The fermentation of
minds thirsting for kiinvaedge 'cooled during the