The Massachusetts spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1821-1823, 1822-10-30
Ru Thomas Lord Erskine.

DU Il ISOHetAC L<OtW A@tCsCe8SCs
My Lord-If parliament had continued SIT
fling, it was my intention to have brought the
subject of my letter before the House OF Lords,
and il it could have been safely delayed, 1
should have waited until Parliament re-assem-
bled but as my object is to engage your
Lordship's earliest attention TO the suferings
of the Greeks, it is obvious that not mo-
mcnt should be LOST lament indeed that his
Majesty has not long since been addressed by
both branches of the legislature, beseeching
him to fulfil the duty ola Christian sovereign,
by an instant enieavour to terminate the per-
petration of those unutterable crimes which
have so long been suffered to disgrace the
Turkish domination. | question not at all
the Kings humanity or Justicei but as his
Majesty can only act through the publick
councils, | address myself TO your Lordshp.
To remove IN the very outset any intention
of personal offence, give you full credit, my
Lord, for the warmest feelings on this affecting
subject. believe you, upon good evidence,
to be anxiously solicitous for the security of
Christians and the progress of the gospels
but, placed as you are IN highly responsible
situation, in very critical times, you may APP
prehend difficulties in promoting those great
objects by any measure of the government;
and it is, therefore, | begin by maintaining
that you are solemnly and indispensably bound
! by duty paramount to that Of statesman,
to make an instant effort to engage the ma
%s~Sae s,A s>lls~ee -:tl> Ahia CorAAtrsr faAAaA--
throw the cruel dominion of unprincipled, in
corrigible barbarians, over Christian peo-
pie, struggling for freedom and independence.
The dominion Of the Turks, my lord, over
the beautiful and extensive regions which
include ancient Greece, was not an ordinary
conquest, to be considered upon the received
principles and precedents of civilized states
towards each other. If the Greeks had be-
come subject to the Ottoman Porte through
the ordinary chances of war, and were gov
erned according to the maxims Of the civil
lized world, we should then, admit, have no
right to resist by force the seventy of their
government, however unjust but deny the
application of this forbearance to the Otto
man Porte, acting as it has too long been sdf-
fered to do.
AS Christians, my Lord we ought besides
to bear in mind that the dominion Of the
Saracens was not one of those changes Of
government by successful warfare which have
taken place in all ages throughout the world !;
but that it was foretold by the Prophets, and
but too well described in scripture, as a smoke
issuing frc n the bottomless pit, which should
cover a large portion of the earth with desc
lation. We ought not to forget that in the
region thus overwhelmed, the Almighty first
revealed himself to mankind, and that our
Redeemer sent forth from thence his disci-
Piles and Apostles to preach the gospel of
benevolence and peace, where it continued
to be preached, and to extend itself on every
side until this preternatursl pestiIeDce, inyad-
ing both soul and body, dafled the Christian
revelation by base imposture, and destroyed
its sacred professors.
We ought to hold in vindicive remem-
brsnce that in the city Of Constantinople,
now the horrid theatre of unutterable crimes,
the imperial standard of Christianity, after
ages of persecution, was first triumphantly
planted, and that her churches multiplied and
zess; l---.s the fseIJt of, de-
in the same moment the most celebrated re-
mains of the arts which had escaped the fury
of the Cloths and Vandals; having been col
lected by Constantine when the south of
Europe was over-run, and the Roman Empire
divided.
Whoever will loolzs into the work of Mon
sieur la Fosse, published lately at Paris, when
the equestrian statue of Henri Quartre was
regretted upon the Pont Neuf, will be aston
lshed at the destruction Of the most sublime
monuments of the ancient world which then
nnhappiy took place. But what, my Lord,
IS the destruction of the arts when compared
with the PROCLAMATION of Christian churches.
and the atrocious murders of their ministers
and worshippers continued to this hour with
accumulated horrors, not only amidst the in
discriminate slaughter of battles, but in cold
blood upon the most innocent? Committed,
my Lord, as it is reported and believed. by
the personal command of the Sultan himself.
by the command of a ruffan, if the fact be
so, who, IN assuming the character of magis-
tracy, debases and brutifes all human author
atty, bringing imperial sway and sovereignty
INTO utter adherence and contempt. Yet, o
Shame this infamous barbarian at the head
OF barbarans equally infamous, continues to
be the scourge of the fairest portion of once
Christian Europe, because Christian Europe,
IN the meridian of its power and civilization.
sleeps over its duties and betrays its trust
Nothing, indeed, is more surprising than
70 look back to the earliest periods Of our
history, and to contrast them with the times
we live in When we were but small
island on the margin Of the world, without
power or resources beyond our own shores.
those, too, very limited, and without any
commanding influence over distant nations.
then also IN their infancies, yet our subjects
then, with their King at their head, went
forth with chiValrous but ill-directed piety TO
deliver the Holy Land even from the polld-
ton of being trodden by the steps Of inf
dels, and sacrificed our treasure and our blood
by expeditions rash in the extreme, being ac-
companied with no adequate force. Yet
nov that tive have extended our dominons to
the very ends of the earth, spreading the
Ilght OF the gospel in our glorious paths, and
although we have now only to raise our COM