Come let us drink their memory,
Those glorious Greeks of old--
On shore and sea the Famed, the Free,
The Beautiful--the Bold!
The mind or mirth that lights each page,
Or bowl by which we sit
Is sunfire pilfer'd from their age--
Gems splinter'd from their wit.
Then, drink and swear by Greece, that there
Though Rhenish Huns may hive
In Britain we the liberty
She loved will keep alive.
_Philhellenic Drinking Song._ By B. Simmons.
In our July No. CCCXXXIII.
Sir Robert Peel, Monsieur Guizot, and Count Nesselrode, Great Britain,
France, and All the Russias, have announced to the world that the kingdom
of Greece is bankrupt. The _Morning Chronicle_, at a time when it was
regarded as a semi-official authority on foreign affairs, declared and
certified that the king of Greece was an idiot. Verily! the battle of
Navarino has proved a most "untoward event."
In these degenerate days, a revolution is by no means so serious a matter
as a bankruptcy, and kings require rather more than the ordinary
proportion of wit to keep their feet steady in their slippery elevation.
Greece is therefore clearly in a most lamentable condition, and the
British public who adopted her, and fed her for a while on every luxury,
now cares very little about her misfortunes. Sir Francis Burdett, Sir John
Hobhouse, and the Right Honourable Edward Ellice, who once acted as her
trustees, and Joseph Hume--the immaculate and invulnerable Joseph himself,
who once stood forward as her champion--have forgotten her existence.
There can be no permanent sympathy where truth is wanting, but the public
does not attend to the correct translation of _Graecia mendax_; it ought
to convey the fact, that foreigners tell more lies about Greece than the
natives themselves. Old Juvenal calls the Greeks a mendacious set of
fabulists, for recording that Xerxes made a canal through the isthmus to
the north of Mount Athos. Colonel Leake declares that the traces of the
canal are visible to all men at this day, who ride across that desert
plain. The moral we wish to inculcate is, that modern politicians should
learn, from the error of the old Roman satirist, to look before they leap.
We shall now endeavour to supply our readers with an impartial account of
the present condition of the Greeks, without meddling with politics or
political speculation. Our opinion is, that the country ought not to be
put in the _Gazette_,--nor ought the king to be sent to the hospital.
Greece is not quite bankrupt, and King Otho is not quite an idiot. Funds
are scarce every where with borrowers in this unlucky year 1843, and wit
scarcer still with most men.
Our readers are aware, that Great Britain, France, and Russia, having
constituted themselves into an alliance for protecting Greece, concocted
together a long series of protocols, and selected Prince Otho of Bavaria
to be King of Greece.[A] The prince was then a promising youth of
seventeen years of age, destined by his royal father to be a priest,
and--his holiness the Pope willing--in due time a cardinal. At the time
of King Otho's election, a national assembly was sitting in Greece, and a
military revolution was raging in the country, in consequence of the
assassination of Capo d'Istria. The recognition of King Otho was obtained
from this national assembly by the ministers of the three protecting
powers, amidst scenes of promising, threatening, and stabbing, which will
long form a deep stain on the Greek revolution, and on European
diplomacy. Mr Parish, who was subsequently secretary of the British
Legation in Greece, has described the drama, and the share which the
ministers of the allied powers took in arranging its acts.
[Footnote A: Three large volumes of papers relative to the affairs of
Greece have been laid before Parliament in 1830, 1832, 1833, and 1836.]
It was well known that King Otho and his regency could not arrive for
several months; and it appeared to be the duty of the protecting powers,
who had selected a sovereign for Greece, to maintain tranquillity in the
country until the arrival of the new government. The representatives of
the allied powers shrank from this responsibility. The national assembly
seemed determined to vote two addresses--one congratulating King Otho on
his selection to the throne, assuring him of the submission of the nation,
but stating to him the laws and usages of Greece, and informing him that
his new dignity imposed on him the duty of rendering justice to all men
according to the laws and institutions of Greece. This address might have
failed to interest the foreign ministers, but it became known that another
was to follow--thanking the protecting powers for the selection they had
made of a monarch, but calling upon them to maintain order in the country
until the arrival of the young king, or of a legally appointed regency.
The representatives of the European powers knew that Greece was in a state
of anarchy, and that the irregular troops scattered over the country, were
destroying the resources of the new monarchy; yet to escape the
responsibility of advising their courts to act, they thought fit to
persuade a few of the political leaders of different parties to unite in
silencing the observations of the representatives of the Greek nation, and
looked on while a military insurrection compelled the assembly to adopt a
decree in the following words--
"The representatives of the Greek
nation recognise and confirm the selection
of H.R.H. Prince Otho of Bavaria as
King of Greece.
"The present decree shall be inserted
in the acts of the assembly, and published
by the press."
The military rabble outside then rushed in and dispersed the
representatives of the Greek nation. No rhetorical Greek ever prepared
this precious decree. It tells its own tale; it is too diplomatically
laconic. It served its purpose in Europe: it looked so well suited to act
as an annex to a protocol. Here, however, we have the source of half the
evils of the Greek monarchy. King Otho's reign commenced with a violation
of law, order, and common sense; and as this violation of every principle
of justice had been openly countenanced by the political agents of the
protecting powers, King Otho was misled into a belief that Great Britain,
France, and Russia, wished to deliver Greece, bound hand and foot, and
despoiled of every right, into his hands.
Various reasons, at the time, induced the Greeks to submit to these
proceedings without a murmur, and even to turn away from those who
endeavoured to raise a warning voice. The truth is, no sacrifice was too
great, which held out a hope of putting an end to the existing anarchy.
About thirteen thousand irregular troops were occupying the richest part
of Greece, and destroying or consuming every thing that had escaped the
Turks. The cattle and sheep of the peasantry were seized, the olive trees
cut down for fuel; and while the people were dying of hunger, literally
perishing for want of food, these banditti were feasting in abundance. The
political Greeks, the jackals of diplomacy, cajolled the people and the
soldiers, by declaring that the allied powers had furnished the king with
money to pay the troops, and to indemnify every man for the losses
sustained during the revolution.
King Otho and his regency did at last arrive, and they brought with them
an army of Bavarians. The king was received with a degree of enthusiasm,
and with proofs of devotion which would have touched any hearts not
protected by an impenetrable padding of beer and sour crout. But it was,
unfortunately for the young king, the fashion at the new court to despise
and distrust the Greeks, to underrate their exploits, and to declaim
against their honesty. The revolution was treated as a war of words, the
defence of Missolonghi as a trifle, and the naval warfare as a farce. The
Greeks have since, on the mountains of Maina, and on the plain of
Phthiotis, shown themselves so far superior to the Bavarians when engaged
in the field, that we shall say nothing on that subject. Their honesty has
been generally considered more questionable than their courage; for though
the names of Miaulis, Kanaris, Marco Botzaris, Niketas, Kolocotroni and
Karaiskaki are known to all Europe, the only spotless statesman, in the
opinion of the Greeks themselves, is the unknown Kanakaris. The arrival of
the king, however, afforded singular proof of the strong feeling of
patriotism and honesty which prevailed among the people.
The Bavarians arrived in Greece early in 1833, and the revenues for that
year were estimated, by competent persons, at four millions of drachmas;
but it was thought that the regency would not succeed in collecting more
than three millions, as their recent arrival prevented their enforcing a
strict system of control. It was necessary, therefore, to trust much to
the honesty of the people, usually a poor guarantee for large payments
into the exchequer of any country. But the Greeks felt that their national
independence was connected with the stability of the new government, and
they acted with true nobility of feeling on the occasion. The revenues
received by the king's government in 1833, amounted to upwards of seven
millions of drachmas, although two months elapsed before some of the
provinces were relieved from the burden of maintaining the irregular
soldiery at free quarters. We believe that there never was a government in
the world which received the amount of the taxes imposed on the people
with such perfect good faith, as the Greek government in 1833. The
expenditure of the government for that year, amounted to something more
than thirteen millions and a half, and if Greece had been governed with
the honesty shown by the Greek people, the expenditure of future years
would never have exceeded that sum.
[We subjoin a statement of the revenues and expenditure of Greece, for
those in which the Greek government have condescended to publish their
accounts.
REVENUE. EXPENDITURE.
Drachmas. Drachmas.
1833, . . . . 7,042,653 1833, . . . . 13,630,467
1834, . . . . 9,455,410 1834, . . . . 20,150,657
1835, . . . . 10,737,011 1835, . . . . 16,851,070
1836, . . . . 12,381,000 1836, . . . . 16,447,126
1837, . . . . 13,313,393 1837, . . . . 16,190,527
After the king took the entire direction of public business into his own
hands, he gave up publishing any accounts, and accordingly none have
appeared in the Greek Gazette for the years 1838, 1839, 1840, and 1841.
Financial difficulties pressing hard in 1842, his Majesty resumed the
practice to a certain degree, by publishing a budget:--
REVENUE. EXPENDITURE.
Drachmas. Drachmas.
1842, estimated at 17,834,000 1842, . . . . 19,395,022
1843, . . . . 14,407,795 1843, . . . . 18,666,482
We may remark, that not the smallest reliance can be placed on these
budgets for the years 1842 and 1843. We are informed that 1,000,000
drachmas of the revenue of 1842 were still unpaid in the month of May
1843.]
We shall now endeavour to explain why the king's government has proved so
inefficient in improving the country, and afterwards examine the various
causes of its extreme unpopularity. To do this, it is necessary to state
what the government has really done; and also, what it was expected to do.
We shall try as we go along, to explain the part the protecting powers
have acted in thwarting the progress of improvement, and in encouraging
the court in its lavish expenditure and anti-national policy. It must,
indeed, constantly be borne in mind by the reader, that the three
protecting powers in their collective capacity have all along supported
the government of King Otho--and that even when the _Morning Chronicle_
called King Otho an idiot, and Lord Palmerston quarrelled with him and
scolded him, still England joined the other powers in continuing to supply
him with money to continue his immense palace, and pay his Bavarian
aides-de-camp. We may add, too, that if it had been otherwise, had either
Great Britain, France, or Russia, deliberately abandoned the alliance,
King Otho would immediately have ceased to be King of Greece, unless
supported on his throne by the direct interference of the other two. Had
the Greeks not looked upon him as the pledge that the protecting powers
would maintain order in the country, they would have sent him back to his
royal father, as ornamental at Munich, where an additional king would
make the town look gayer, but as utterly useless in Greece. Though,
England, France, and Russia, have therefore each in their turn acted in
opposition to King Otho, still they have always as a body supported his
doings, right or wrong.
Let us now see what the government of King Otho has done for Greece. From
1833 until 1837, Greece was governed by Bavarian ministers, and
accordingly the king was not considered directly responsible for the
conduct of the administration. These ministers were Mr Maurer, who, during
1833 and part of 1834, directed the government. He was supported with
great eagerness by France, and opposed with more energy by England. The
liberal and anti-Russian tendency of his measures, alarmed Russia, but
she showed her opposition with considerable moderation. Count Armansperg
succeeded Mr Maurer, and he ruled Greece with almost absolute power for
two years. He was supported by Lord Palmerston with the energy of the most
determined partizanship. The institutions of Greece, liberal policy, and
sound principles of commercial legislation, were all forgotten, because
Count Armansperg was anti-Russian. The opposition of France and Russia was
strongly announced, but restrained within reasonable bounds. Mr Rudhart
succeeded Count Armansperg. He, poor man! was assailed by England with all
the artillery of Palmerston; and as neither France nor Russia would
undertake to support so unfit a person, he was driven from his post.
The Greek government enjoyed every possible advantage during the
administration of these Bavarians. A loan of £.2,400,000, contracted under
the guarantee of the three protecting powers, kept the treasury full; so
that no plan for the improvement of Greece, or for enriching the
Bavarians, was arrested for want of funds. We shall now pass in review
what was done.
1. A good monetary system was established. The allies, it is true,
supplied the metal, but the Bavarians deserve the merit of transferring as
much of it as they could into their own pockets, in a very respectable
coinage.
2. The irregular troops were disbanded, and many of them driven over the
frontier into Turkey. The thing was very clumsily done; but, thank Heaven!
it was done, and Greece was delivered from this horde of banditti.
3. Every Bavarian officer or cadet was promoted, and every Greek officer
was reduced to a lower rank. We cannot venture to describe the rage of the
Greeks, nor the presumption of the Bavarians.
4. An order of knighthood was created, of which the decorations were
distributed in the following manner: One hundred and twenty-five grand
crosses, and crosses of grand commanders, were divided as follows: The
protecting powers received ninety-one, that is thirty a-piece if they
agreed to divide fairly. The odd one was really given to Baron Rothschild,
as contractor of the loan. The Bavarians took twenty-three. The Greeks
received ten for services during the war of the revolution, and during the
national assembly which accepted King Otho, and one was bestowed among the
foreigners who had served Greece during the war with Turkey. Six hundred
and fourteen crosses of inferior rank were distributed, and of these the
Greeks received only one hundred and forty-five; so that really the
protecting powers and the Bavarians reserved for themselves rather more
than a fair proportion of this portion of the loan, especially if they
expected the Greeks not to become bankrupt.
5. All the Greek civil servants of King Otho were put into light blue
uniforms, covered with silver lace, at one hundred pounds sterling a-head.
And, O Gemini! such uniforms! Those who have seen the ambassador of his
Hellenic majesty at the court of St James's, at a levee or a drawing-room,
will not soon forget the merits of his tailor.
6. Ambassadors were sent to Paris, London, St. Petersburg, Munich, Madrid,
Berlin, Vienna, and Constantinople, and Consuls-general to all the ends of
the earth.