Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1897-05-27

conquered Greece, and, still hold
ing the fair land of song and glory
in subsection. the Turk had bel
come the slave of the powers of
Europe, and go Greece had be-
come
1.-THE tondsman of a sIave.n
Though the gradual ext,nc>
ton of the power of Greece was
constant. il was not without he.
roic resistance. Occasionally
during the later time of its bond
age there have been fiful strug-|
giles, growing less intense with
their repetition. but always ex-
citing the Imagination of tt e
poets into verse that is familiar.
Even yet schoolboys recite the
struggle ofthe first quarter of
our century as told by our own
poets
"At midnight in his guarded tent
The Turk was dreaming OF the hour
When Greece, her knee is suppliance
And while the Turk thus reposed
in supreme confidence we know
that on the other side, at TIE
same hour
"Atmidnight in the forest shade
Bozzaris ranged his Saliote band"
We all know, from the same
| source, the outcome of that mid
| night struggle; how Bozzaris
cheered his band. but in the mo-
ment of victory fell, "bleeding at
every veir." The English poet
of Greece, looking upon these
contests with an eye to the pic
turesque features of the situa>
ton. wondered why they should
not have succeeded, and as his
fancy saw the picture he ex>
claimed:
"Who is so brave as the dark Suliote,
With his snowy camese and his shaggy
capote?"
The sympathy of the world
went out to Greece, but not ais
ways the politics. Greece con-
tinued of importance. but only
as a little weigh: to preserve the
exactness of the balance of pow
err in Europe. Throughout our
century this has been her fate.
not her function, for she has had
no voice in her own position.
Enthusiasts and poets thought
otherwise of her. The great poet
who drew his Intellectual blade in
the cause of revival of dead glo-
ry drew inspiration from the
great past:
"The mountains look on Marathon,
And Marathon looks on the sea;
| And musing there an hour alone,
| dreamed that Greece might still be
Free"
And, inspired by his "evenings
in Greece" the poet Of melody
aud song. with no warlike im>
pulses whatever, but dreaming
of the past, suddenly burst into
| the heroic strain
ITO Greece We give our shining
blades
Yet it had been all in vain. Not
Milton nor Byron,nor Moore. nor
Collins. nor Halleck, nor Poe,
nor the other familiar, nor the VI
familiar, poets could sing Greece
oa:k to the energy of her old
! glory and greatness. The pagan
Greek confronted millions, and,
when needful. died where he
stood for the glory Of arms and
country. But the Christian Greek
| prefers the woes of this life
| rather than the uncertain ills Of
| the next, and seems to be afraid
| of the fierce onslaught of the ia
tidel, the Unspeakable Turk, the
ia q list soldiers who believe
| death a transition to bliss.
Save the constant diminution
of heroism Greece stands to-day
as she has stood any time ia this
century. Men dreaming OF Mar
athon and Thermopylae have
| fancied that Greece might again
be free. and these thoughts have
so stirred the public heart in
England that again young en-
thusiasts have gone to give their
shining blades to Greece. But it
has all come to naught. The
fbondsmen of slaves cannot stand
before their masters. They may
boot the young princes and storm
the palace of their king. but it
comes to nothing. They may
change their ministry in the
face of this great crisis, only to
have it said of them as was said
| nearly three -fourths the century
| gone
Greece! Change thy lords, thy state
is still the same;
Thy glorious day is DER, but not thy
years of shame"
The great powers will inter-
vene, as they interviewed before,
and will again set the boundaries
to the rule OF balance power
among themselves. The bonds
man will be returned to his slave
master, and peace will reign. It
will be Greece, but not Greece.
| There will be again to US only