Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-12-07

strangers, even OF those most 0iSposed 10 mink
harshly of the Greeks: that among the most
and ignorant OF this unhappy peo-
pie, even in those provinces where the IurKish
TYRANNY would have been almost enough to ex- |
tinruisb the heart and understanding of man,
the stranger is forced to acknowledge "the Gu.
riosity. ingenuity, keenness, and elocution OF
their famous forefathers, and the natural enect
Of which upon the present race was an extreme
impatience of their present condition" mot
a traveller from Europe could pass without ex-
citing the hope that some interference IN .neir
favor was in contemplation; and he never iaied
10 hear from them many bitter reproaeaes a.
paiust MS for allowing our fellow CHRISTIANS 10
remain euslayed under the yoke OF inhdels
Colonel Leake attributes large portion OF
.he ,,;srenresentations of the Greek character
80 the route pursued by the ordinary tourists
Ind;y;duals accustomed to the indulgences Of
civilized countries are suddenly plunged into
the priyations and Inconvenience OF a depress-
ed and poor state of society; or they come
with romantic notions borrowed from antiqui-
": or TO avoid the common hazarcs OF travel
through the mountain countries, where the true
people are to be alone found, they may make
party % pleasure through the beaten track OF
Athens, the Islands, the Asiatic coast, the plain
of Troy and Constantinople, road where OF
prey as upon other frequented roads, and where
extor,ion is the natural lesson. "Their Jour-
ney is concluded before they have acquired a
sufficient knowledge Of the language to form
any impartial estimate Of the national charac-
ter, and they come in contact chiefly with those
classes upon which the long objection to per-
sons in authority under the government, or
otherwise in Turkish employ--servants, inter-
prefers. the lower order Of traders, and general
iy the inhabitants of those towns in which the
Turkish population has great preponderance
Of numbers"
SIT is obviously not in those situations, but in
the more unfrequented islands, and on the con-
tinent of European Greece, where the Turks
do not form tenth part OF the population, that
the inquiry ought to be made, whether any of
the ancient talents and virtues OF the Greeks
have survived the centuries OF Musselman OPP
preston which supervened upon the debase.
ment caused by Byzantine despotism. In such
an inquiry, it would be further necessary to dis
tinguish between the inhabitants of the plains
and those of the mountains; for those two class
es have been placed in very different circum-
stances ever since the establishment OF the Ut
toman power in Greece"
The Turkish oppression has been so directly
the source of the chief defects in the character
of the Greek of our day, that in exact proper
ton as that fatal influence is enfeebled, SO rises
the national character. Its nature is elastic,
and il springs up even in every momentary re-
NOV al of the pessure; but its true displays are
to be found where the Turk dares not come
The most remarkable contrast to the inhabi.
tants of the plains is to be found in those ISL
lands Of the Egean, "where there are no Turk
sh inhabitants" and in the mountainous parts
of Crete, of Laconia; Arcadia, Etolia, Locris,
Epirus, Thessaly, and Macedonia. Here the
Greeks bear "the most striking resemblance"
in both their virtues and vices, to their illus
trious ancestors Industrious, hardy, enter
prising, heroic; ardenty attached 10 their
homes and country; living on little, or lovers of
wine and gaiety, as the occasion prompts
sanguine, quick ingenious, initiative" The
picture has its dark side" Vain, incon-
slant, envious, treacherous, and turbulent
This picture is not from the hand of an enthu-
siast; the strains are too faithfully marked. But
we must remember, that these defects would be
the natural qualities of any people leading the
distracted and uncertain life of the Greeks
even in his strongest place of security, pent up
amids, wild tracts of barren country, shut out
from general communication, condemned to the
habits of the hunter and the marauder, liable
to annual in-oads of merciless enemy, and
from his cradle to his grave, either the spoil or
the antagonist VI TIC oPpIeSsoT. IoVeTty, SuS-
2icion, loneliness-the inclemency of the ele-
ments-a life of hazard--Aight or attack--what
original constitution Of virtue could have at
tanned its true stature? There is not nation
al character under Heaven that would not have
hardened and darkened under this perpetual
rudeness of fortune. That the Greek retains
any qualities emitting him to rank among men,
is the phenomenon-the powerful evidence of
what illustrious qualities he may yet shew forth
when misery and shame shall cover him no |
more, and he shall be called to take his armed |
stand in the great field, where nations struggle |
for more than the glory of the sword.
Providence has commanded that various eli |
mates shall bring forth various fruits out of that
vast treasure of fertility and bounty which it |
has laid up for the enjoyment of man 1t has
commanded that among the races Of man, there
shall be variety of intellectual powers for the
general good. Why shoulG it not have follow
ed up this palpable law of benefcense as far as
nations, and appointed those distinctions among
the mightier masses of society, which have
been found essential to the system of individual |
Why shall not the nation and |
the land be made for each other--The dweller