The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1828-03-05
STATE OF GREECE.

At q public meeting held at New York, ON the
10Th ult for the purpose of extending further
aid to the Greeks DR.. Howe, who has recently
/ returned from Greece, gave detailed account
Of the situation, sufferings and prospects of that
people, from which the following is an extract: :
| left America for Greece in November 1924 :
filed with that strong enthusiasm for her cause
which vas then so prevalent, there was every
thing to charm a young enthusiast. Greece
the land of Leonidas and Themistoces, was up
and struggling for political existence; the de-
! scendants of ancient heroes were fighting for
/ freedom in that land, covered with the broken
! columns, and the still splended ruins of former
/ greatness; aoove all, Byron, the generous and
noble bard had joined them, and young men
we're focking from Europe to serve volun-
! teers. On my arrival in the Morea, found ev
cry thing as the friends of Greece could wish
J it government had Just put down the rebellious
chiefs, and had them prisoners; loan of ten
million dollars had been negotiated regular
troops were organizing Lancasterian schools
were establishing every where Greeks were
coming in from Asia Minor; frigates were
! building in America, and steam vessels in Lon
dom The Morea, the islands, and Romela
were tranquil every part was cultivated, and
J the villages began to swarm with happy peas
antry, who then drew the first breath of free
QCfn. lOlueu an eA pCulliOl WHICH was u6sIlii-
ed to attack Patras, and drive the Turks from
their last strong hold in the country: but the
attention of the expedition was directed to the
south of the Morea where Ibrahim Pasha with
1000 disciplined Arabs had just landed; and
we marched to meet him full of confidence and
hope--for the Greeks had for four years con-
stantly beaten the Turks, driven them from one
strong hold TO another, till the country was al
most free of them. What was their dsmay
then, on approaching Navarino, to meet small
parties carrying off the wounded, others stray
Cling singly, next considerable bodies of sol
diers, all flying with evident marks of mortlfica-
ton, defeat and despair It was in vain to try
to persuade them to turn back, or talk of the re-
Inducements coming up. "These are not
Turks" cried the soldiers; they are Europe
an tacticians, who beat without fighting
In fact, the poor fellows had, by scientific move
ments, been driven from their positions and it
looked fatal indeed to Grecian liberty, to see
the newly arrived troops moving about on the
plain below us, with cavalry, artillery, and eve
ry appurtenance of a regular army; while the
Greek soldier was gazing on the mountain side
at manGvres which he could not comprehend,
and was astonished at the glitter of the bayonet,
which he had never before seen. In a few DAYS
Navarino fell, and the Arabs prepared to make
dash upon Trippolizza, then the capital of the
Morea, with population 100000. There was
no means of defending it, and the inhabitants
unable to save their effects, set fire to it, and
fled towards Napoh. The situation of the Mo
rea was then terrible; the roads were thronged
with men, women and chidren-old and young,
all who could walk, we're fastening away; the
very old and feeble and the SICK were left be-
hind the confusion was indescribable women
got separated from their husbands-children
4 from their parents-the feeble sank down and
dind or u-are OverfalypO and hphoadad- N, l.
ny women were seized with the pangs of labor
by the road side. Nearly one hundred. thou
sand persons were driven from their homes, and
were flying to the sea-shore, before the Arabs,
who laying waste the country, burning the vii
lagos, and Strengthening all they met, pursued
their bloody march across the Peloponnesus,
their course marked by the plains of Calamata,
Trippolizza, and Argos and it was only under
the walls of Napoli that they were stopped
From that time to this, the PeIoponnesus has
been one wide waste, and the pleasant villages
and fruitful vallies that three years ago were to
be found in every part of it, are only now to be
recognised by the ruin of the houses, and the
bones of the inhabitants. Thousands and tens
of thousands, were taken prisoners, and their
4 fate was horrible indeed at first, Ibrahim Pa
sha in the hope of inducing the inhabitants to
submit treated his prisoners with some mercy :;
but finding it Intellectual, he gave loose to his
own fury, and to the brutality of his soldiers.
Should detail to you what know of Turkish
cruelty, you might deem it fable you might
think it impossible that in the 10Th century
such depravity exists The men have the best
fate, they are generally massacred on the spot
though often witt; torments many have had
sharp pointed stakes driven through the whole
length of their body, and been left to writhe and
die upon them, with all "impalements and
heightened pangs' those kept for slaves have
their noses and ears cut off, and sometimes their
tongues cut out; the women are all violated
often by dozen. of Arabs in succession, and
then put to death; or if beautiful, are sold to
some rich Turks, and when their beauty fades
they are put to the most mental occupation of
slaves and If sick cast out upon a dung hill to
die. The boys and girls, if at all beautiful, are
kept for the brutal and unnatural passions of
their captors. repeat it-not a Greek female
Is ever taken prisoner (be she ever so young)
but she is ravlshed not boy but he is treated
in way that makes nature shudder Such has
been the fate Of thousands who have fallen into
their hands And what has become of the rest
OF the people why, one half of the inhabitants
OF the Peloponnesus and of Romelia have taxi
en- refuge in the mountains, or in the islands, or
on the sea-shore, about strong towns some few
of them saved money enough, perhaps to exc a
scanty subsistence; the rest, without houses, or
other clothes than those they had upon their
backs, have for three years lived as they could
The situation OF these refugees, principally wo-
mon and children, is indeed deplorabe, and not
to be conceived ofby comparison with any mis-
cry as seen in this country. Perhaps can give
you the best idea of it by describing one particu-
lar place-say Napoli d Romania Around
this town, besides its own numerous poor, are
collected about 6,000 miserable refugees who
have fled from their devastated villages, and
live in small huts or wigwams. built of bushes
or mud, or in holes dug in the ground In one
of these huts you will find, perhaps, widow
and three or four children, without table.
CHAIR or bed sallow from long exposure pale
from famine, and with hardly sufficient