pation of Malta, by the French invasion of Spain, and by that possession which each foreign power took of the Ionian islands, acquired a very large capital, as well as an extensive navy, which has rivalled even the ancient glory of Salamis and Mycale.

At the commencement of the present insurrection, the Hydriot merchants possessed one hundred and twenty vessels, built from the splendid pine forests of Olympia, the average burden of which was four hundred tons, the number of guns eighteen, and of hands fifty. The Spezziotes had sixty, similar to the above in burden and in complement; whilst the Ipsariots had an equal number, but of a larger

construction.

The returns of commerce in these isles became so considerable, that the refinements of opulence soon made considerable progress. The houses are built in a mixed style of Greek and Italian architecture, and in many cases furnished with the finest articles of European manufacture. Both the apparel and the food of the inhabitants are much better than falls to the lot of their continental brethren: an efficient police is established in their towns; and the public government, intrusted to the Gerontes, or Elders, is distinguished by a high degree of energy and integrity. Public banks are also founded in their cities, and the great capitalists, who have themselves been engaged in commercial enterprise, lend out their money to adventurers, at the rate of ten, fifteen, or even twenty per cent. upon the proceeds of the voyage. The naval captains, who are at the same time principal ship-owners, are responsible in these transactions; but every member of the crew, down to the lowest cabin-boy, has a share in the speculation. Each sailor thus becomes more or less a merchant, whilst he learns the propriety, and reaps the benefit, of industry, activity, and good conduct. From such a beginning, and by such means, did these islander

arrive at a degree of independence and power unknown to the other subjects of Mahometan despotism: by such means they have shaken that despotism to its very foundations; have led on their countrymen in the paths of victory; and shewn to all the world that the capabilities of the Greek character, like those of its soil, are unimpaired, and that they are still able to acquire and to adorn that rank among the states of Europe, from which they have been so long debarred.

The contest in Southern Greece proceeded slowly, as might be expected from the means of the parties engaged. The Turks were confined principally to their fortresses, and the Greeks, in an insurgent, though very undisciplined, state under their captains, who did not always agree among themselves. The best and bravest of them were, Colocotroni and the Bey of Maina, amongst the Moreotes; Mavrocordato, in the Etolean and Acarnanian districts; and Ulysses, a noted young polihar, or Albanian warrior, who had served with great distinction in the armies of Ali Pacha, and who now carried death and destruction among the Turks throughout the South of Thessaly, the defiles of Mount Eta, and the region about Parnassus. In the meantime the commotion spread through all the provinces, and many of the islands; from some of which the Mahometans, where they were few in number compared with their Christian subjects, thought it prudent to retire. In revenge for this, indiscriminate slaughter and the most cruel punishments were inflicted upon unoffending victims in the large cities of the empire, and other places where the Mussulmen out-numbered the Christian population. The executions, which took place in the capital of the empire and Smyrna alone, would fill a volume. At length, in the month of April, it was determined by the Divan, to strike terror, if possible, into the insurgents, by a piece of cruelty almost unparal

leled. The Patriarch of Constantinople was a man vene rated by all ranks of people for his talents, his disposition, and his truly apostolical character. This excellent person, after having been compelled to publish an anathema against his brethren in arms, was suddenly seized by the Turkish soldiery as he came from the performance of divine worship on Easter Sunday, and hanged ignominiously in his pontifical robes, before the gate of his own cathedral. Three archbishops in his train were carried off and executed in a similar manner before the doors of other churches, and eight priests of his household shared the same fate; all the Christian churches in the city were then attacked and pillaged, and desecrated by every possible act which impiety and malignity could suggest. The bodies of these eminent personages, having been exposed to the scorn of the populace during the whole day, were then cut down, dragged through the streets by the heels, and cast into the sea by Jews, who were employed in this destestable act by the Mussulmen, to shew their utter contempt for Christianity. The nominal pretence for this impious cruelty was a suspicion that the unfortunate patriarch had assisted the wretched family of Prince Morusi, who had been lately executed as a traitor, in their escape from Constantinople. The atrocious deed occasioned some remonstrances from the ambassadors of the different Christian powers at the Porte, and led eventually to the recall of Baron Strogonoff, the Russian minister. The body of the patriarch, having been found floating on the waves of the Bosphorus, was secretly conveyed to Odessa, where it was interred with the honours due to his exalted rank and character. For several days after this execution, unlimited permission for the slaughter of Christians was granted to the licentious soldiery; when so many victims perished by their hands, so many by the sword of the executioner, and so many fled from the scene of horror, that fears were

entertained for the safety of the capital, which depends principally upon the industry and activity of its Greek population for the necessaries of life.

These transactions, instead of crushing, served only to rouse the indignant spirit of the insurgents throughout all the provinces to tenfold exertions, and to acts of dreadful retribution. The contest now became stamped with a character of peculiar ferocity, when Demetrius Ypsilanti, brother to Prince Alexander, arrived in the Morea, with a small train of followers, but with a very considerable sum of money, and was almost unanimously placed at the head of the insurgent troops. A central junta, or senate, also was established at Calomata; proclamations were issued to the Greeks, as well as to foreign powers, and the introduction of some sort of order and government was attempted. The Turks, on the other hand, began in haste to prepare a naval armament, but were sadly at a loss how to man their fleets, having taking the precaution to imprison or put to death the only effective part of the complement, namely the Greek sailors. In the meantime they sent orders to all their great officers throughout the empire, for disarming the Christian population, a measure which led to innumerable acts of cruelty on the one side, and retaliation on the other. Dreadful outrages were committed by the Turks at Smyrna and Adrianople, which were repaid by the Greeks upon the Mahometans captured in vessels, or taken at the surrender of fortresses, particularly that of Navarino, where the Turks defended themselves with so much obstinacy, as to eat not only the flesh of horses, dogs, and every disposable animal, but the bark of trees and shrubs, mixed up with their scanty supply of meal; nay, it is even said that human beings furnished them with a sustenance, until every hope of relief had vanished. It was at this siege that the Grecian heroine, Robolina, first distinguished herself. This high-minded

female belonged to one of the first families in the Isle of Spezzia; her husband had been executed by the Sultan on a frivolous and false pretence, and for nine years she never put off her mourning weeds. She never let the desire of vengeance sleep in her breast; and when the flame of insurrection first exploded in Greece, she employed the resources of a large fortune in the equipment of three vessels of war, with which she ranged herself among the captains of the fleet. She was deterred by no dangers or fatigues from encountering the duties both of naval and military warfare; but, taking her two sons, quite youths, as her associates in every expedition, she animated them by her exhortations to revenge their father's death, and exhibited in her own conduct the best example of courage and good discipline. About this time, the Greek army was joined by Mr. Gordon, a Scotch gentleman of large fortune, and as large a stock of enthusiasm, who accepted the situation of aid-de-camp to Prince Ypsilanti, and accompanied his army in all its movements. Continual success now began to attend upon the naval armaments of the insurgentsThey had the good fortune to surprise a Turkish.corvette and two brigs, in the roads of Milo, which they carried by

coup-de-main. They also captured many Ottoman merchantmen in the Archipelago and other parts of the Levant. Having taken a large vessel full of pilgrims from Mecca, near the island of Cyprus, they shewed themselves but too strongly inclined to retaliation, by putting them all to death, after having insulted them with the offer of baptism, which was indignantly refused.

In the mean time the affairs of the Morea went on very favourably to the Greeks. Their general congress had removed from Calomata to Argos; Napoli di Romania, the strongest fortress in Peloponnesus, was invested by their troops; Patrass was taken, though the Turks kept posses