Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1856-02-28
THE LAND OF GREECE.

cellent correspondent accompanying ou1
Mediterranean feet. We find, occasion
ally, an eloquent paragraph in his letters
from the bright come of battle and Of
song" some of which, we trust, will be Of
interest to our readers =" Byron's de.
scription, in the Giaour, of the appearance
of Greece is as truthful as forcible. I'll:
Greece; but living Greece no more AL
seems dead, and, were it not for the as.
sociations that cling, ivy-hke to the ven
cradle ruins fiat, stale and uDprofta-
ble.' The vast and scanty cultivated
plain, the barren rocky mountains, the
absence of energy and life astonish the
traveller, as he rolls over the sandy road
between the Piraus and Athens. Dust
flies from his carriage wheels as they
traverse the ground where once stood the
groves of the Academy and his eye can
not rest on the harmony and beauty Of
the temple of Theseus without first scan
ming the miserable huts and dirty popu-
lation that infest the intervening distance,
No one at all conversant with Greek his
tory but must feel the profoundest melan-
chOly on seeing what Greece is and think
ing of what she a0aS. The magnificent
ruins-which have been so often described
and are so well known to the world
convey most vivid idea of her former
power and glory, and make mournful, aw-
full contrast with the squalid tenements
that encircle their base. 1t is as if the
majestic shade of Minerva looked sadly,
gloomily down from her shattered throne
on the Acropols upon the apostate sons
of her immortal votaries.
Perhaps the spot most interesting in
Athens, from its associations-as the Par
thenon is most attractive from its grand
eur-is the Pynx, the famous scene of
Demosthenes' appeals to the patriotism
and courage of the Greeks when threat
ened by the Macedonians. 1t was the
usual place of assembly on occasions of
public interest, and the rostrum, still ex-
listing, from which the orator addressed
his audience, was hewn out of the solid
rock. Here, with no covering but the
sky, on the gentle slope of a rocky hill,
on platform partly artificial and sup
ported by prodigious masses of stone-a
Cyclopian wall-the ancient Greeks met
together to listen to the spirit-stirring ad-
dresses Of their leaders on all matters of
public interest, to discuss questions of
State policy, and to decide on peace or
war. 1t is venerable, hallowed spot,
and its rugged simplicity and solidity
seems to harmonic with our idea of the
stern and severe Athenian republican.
Examine well the place! Immediately
in front of the rostrum or bema, imagine
the congregated masses of the democracy,
and further on, but near, observe the su-
perb temples of Minerva, Jupiter, and
Theseus; while behind, the seattle
source of Grecian wealth and power, and
the scene of many a Grecian triumph
reflects from its serener sky, with the
fertile shores and mountains of Attica.
In the east rises Hymettus, northward
towers the marble-caved Pentelicus. and
to the westward repose 'the rock, the
bay of Salamis.' A more majestic pic
ture the mind can scarcely conceive one
might be pardoned who standing ON the
summit Of the Pynx, strives to re-people
and restore the past, while so many evil
dences of long-gone glory and splendor
still exist before and aronnd him, if he
wished he had lived in those great old
days. l have before spoken of the pre-
sence Of the French and English in the
Pireus. A Frenchman thus writes with
regard to it,
"'The French occupation is odious to
the Greeks. 1t is not surprising. Our
Journals seem on all sides TO have com-
Ito pour torrents of insult ON the
the heads Of people not without vices.
but possessing one paramount virtue
that OF patriotism. Our alliance with
the Turks astonishes and annoys them ::
some even will not believe 1t and have
been told that the mountaineers general
~ smile incredulously and think we wish
to quiz them when we declare that q
hundred and fifty thousand French are
before Sebastopol to defend the Sultan
against the Russians and if we prove to
them that these Frenchman are in Varna
and Constantinople at the same time
they say it is only ruse de querre, a
pretext for Selling on good position.
with view of afterwards sabering and
shooting the battalions of the Propbet
Ihe citizens manifest their anti-Anglo-
French sentiments by resuming the ma
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