The Litchfield County post., 1827-01-12

l S malned behind; the Turk was privileged to compel the Greek peasant to sell his produce | for the public use, of either the Sultan, or the | local government, at whatever price the mer- 1 cy of his tyrant pleased. There were per petual demands of contributions in money or 1 kind soldiers were quartered on them; they were compelled to supply labour for the pub lie works. This system of harassing ani 1 plunder was carried through the whole gov ernment, and the peasants were reduced to the lowest privatiOn. In all the cOnquests the inhabitants of thesopen country pay heavy price for the luXuriance of the plain, and in the levels of Thessaly and Eubma, Bgtia and Macedonia, the peasantry lived under the sword. In the mountain districts, the Mo req, and the country south of Mount Etna, the Turks were more reluctant to settle, and the religious houses retained a portion of their former lands. A curious tenure preserved the rights of some other Greeks even in the more exposed territory. 1t had been the old custom of the Asiatic sovereigns to set apart cities and districts for the peculiar provision of their queens or households. The custom had been retained by the Sultans, and large dis tricts of the more fertile parts of Greece be- 1 lOnged to the Sultanas, or to the Harem in general, or even to the Mosques. The ten antry in possession were comparatively secure, and the eXactiOns were comparatively mild.- The gentleness of female influence was felt even in this system of tyranny; and the complaints of the Greek who supplied the toilets Of the Harem were seldom neglected by his imperial mistresses. The Greek of the Islands was still less subject to injury. In the Egean, excepting in portions of the Isi- ands nearest the Asiatic shore, Rhodes, Cos, and Lesbos the Greeks paid only the land tax, and capitaton. But on the whole this memorable people was in the most distressed state of any Christian nation. Neither life nor property was their own. Their govern ment was tyranny, their revenue was extor- ton, their law was the sword they lived un- 1 der the heel of a barbdrous domination, ,haugh- ty from its very ignorance, and merciless a. like by its nature and its creed. In the freedom and security of our country, we possibly cannot conceive the long misery of life passed under the wild caprice and per petual irritation of Turkish tyranny-the ex- posture of the deepest and dearest interests of our blood and being to brutal passion or ma lignant pOwer-the bitter and constant fear that the fruits of life of lahour would be sacrificed to the avarice of some insolent slave, raised into sudden authority by his s,l- perior villiany. and sent forth to live by plum der, and tread down every hope of honor and
 
 in the sincerity of our souls, that this should last, even if the subject nation were but a step above the beasts that perish; even if there was no seed of manliness among them-t, in the long series of ages, they had given proof of a noble thought, or an action Wor- t.y of human nature. God forbid that man, bearing his image, however hunlated, and defiled with the dust of slavery, should not at length clear away the stain that the day of Opprt ssion should not have an end, and the lash and the letter at length cease to resound in this mighty dungeon; or still more, that England, the very throne of Christianity and Freedom. should not be the first to command this mcrcess dcsolnton of gallant hearts and Christian faith to be at an end and if her remonstrances should fail, in the majesty of CT, delegated for such things, finally wiring the scourge from the hand of the goddess opprcs- SOr.
 But that this unfortunate people are eml- nently worthy of the interference and interest of enlightened Europe, we have evidences of the most sufficient kind. Of this order is Col. Leake, who, from his official residence, his professional rank, and his peculiar study of the people and language, is undeniable au- thority, This officer tells us, in his late very interesting MemOir,* that "thOugh the con 1 ditiOn of the peasant is, on the whole, miSer0- bie, he is in general industrious, much attach l ed to his family, anxious for the education of his children, and equal, if not superior, in in- telgence, to the peasantry of the most civiIi- zed countries of Europe" | He proceeds to tell us, that this distinguish ed characteristic of the ancient Greeks is re- taned by their descendants ofevery condition in degree 90 striking as to attract the atten- tion of all strangers, even of those most dis posed to think harshly of the Greeks; that among the most uncultivated and ignorant of this unhappy people, even in those provinces where the Turkish tyranny would have been almost enough to extinguish the heart and understanding of man, the stranger is for ced to acknowledge the curiosity ingenuity, keenness, and elocution of their famous fore fathers, and the natural effect of which upon the present race was an extreme impaticnce 1 of their present condition Mot traveller from Europe conld pass without exciting the hope that some interference in their favor was 1 in contemplation and he never failed to hear from them many bitter reproaches againstus for allowing our fellow Christians to remain enslaved under the yoke ofinfidels."
 Ccl.Leake attributes large portion of the misrepresentation of the Greek character to the route pursued by the ordinary tourists