sees in Greece are the work of a few years, we shall learn with interest
what progress has been made in so short a space of time, and so much the
more so since all this is due to individual enterprise, to the
association of capital, and to competition, that universal condition of
the progress of nations as of individuals. The various manufactories in
which steam-power is employed, distributed among the different towns in
the kingdom, have been founded since 1863; their saleable value is over
£1,000,000 sterling. They spend £1,600,000 in raw material, about
£100,000 in fuel, and turn out products of the value of nearly
£2,000,000. Seven thousand three hundred and forty-two operatives, male
and female, are employed in these establishments, which, under the
impulse of the national industry, are multiplying and developing
themselves daily with considerable rapidity. Again, it is a Greek, an
Epirote, Evangeli Lappa, at whose cost have been instituted, under the
name of [Greek: Olympia], exhibitions of agriculture, and manufactures
every four years, in which, conformably with the fundamental statutes,
all the products of Hellenic industry are to be represented, and
particularly its manufactures, its agriculture, and cattle-breeding. A
magnificent palace, erected expressly for it at the cost of the generous
founders, is destined to receive, when finished, the fourth exhibition
of the [Greek: Olympia]."
In common with agriculture and manufactures, trade is likewise making
considerable progress. It is to the commercial spirit of the Greeks, of
which traces are everywhere seen, that we owe the considerable extension
which commerce has undergone in Greece since her national regeneration.
Her general trade shows the following figures:--
Year. Imports. Exports.
1865 £3,196,403 £1,775,775
1874 4,261,870 2,663,662
The spirit of association, under every aspect, is the secret of human
progress and development in modern times. In Greece this idea,
essentially human, of association has not yet realized the grand results
in the way of progress which we admire in the rest of Europe. The
poverty of the country, recently delivered from general destruction, is,
doubtless, one of the chief causes of this. However, since the year
1868, a great impetus has been given to our national life in respect of
association. The first company was formed in 1836. From that time to the
present 144 joint-stock companies have been created at different dates.
Of all these companies there remain at this day fifty, witnesses to the
vitality of the country, and to the constant progress of Greece. This
fact is still more clearly affirmed by the operations of the National
Bank of Greece.
This bank, established in 1842 with a capital of £165,000 divided into
5000 shares, possesses to-day a capital of £600,000. While in the year
following its establishment (1843) the highest amount of its note
circulation only reached £12,500 that of its discounts £85,000 and that
of its advances £6500; in 1877 the note circulation reached £1,500,000,
its discounts £3,800,000, and its commercial advances £1,100,000. The
annual dividend has increased from about £3 per share in 1846 to £8
6_s._ 6_d._ in 1875.
It is in the budget more especially that we may ascertain this great
national progress which is manifesting itself under every aspect of
Hellenic life. The revenue of the kingdom, according to the budget for
the year 1879, amounted to over £1,600,000, while at the date of the
establishment of the first monarchy the total of the ordinary public
revenue was £260,000.
This extension of the vital forces of the nation is, doubtless, a
visible progress. We have not yet arrived at the completion of the
national work necessary to place us on the level of European
civilization. Much has yet to be done; but this does not depend only on
the good-will and the capacity of the inhabitants. The too narrow limits
of the kingdom, the political uncertainty which has weighed upon the
life and upon the future of the country, particularly during recent
years, divert the attention of the Government and of the nation to more
general and more urgent matters. The peaceful labour of the country has
not, however, been entirely suspended during the late period of
agitation and crisis, when the cannon was thundering in close proximity
to us. The material and social progress which has taken place during the
last three years shows the confidence which the nation has in herself,
in her mission, and her future.
Already, since the creation of the new kingdom, the West, regretting in
some sort what it had just done, had shown itself very severe towards
Greece. After the phil-Hellenic enthusiasm a singular change supervened
in the sentiments of Europe. A calculating and scornful spirit had
succeeded that fever of generosity which produced the day of Navarino.
It was thought that a Liliputian could play the part of a giant.
Impossibilities were asked of a new State, without means, without
resources, scarcely risen from the tomb of oblivion and ruin. If
clear-sighted men of this period had been listened to--Leopold of
Belgium, Palmerston, Metternich even--Greece would have had limits more
natural in order that she might breathe and act more freely. This
youngest child of the European States would to-day be a strong Power,
capable of struggling against the Panslavist spectre in the East, and of
realizing the projects of the West in this country of the Balkans which
appears to be menaced by Muscovite conquest. However, if in a military
point of view Greece cannot to-day be the chief actor, she yet remains
the most important factor of civilization in the East in intellectual,
political, and ethnological respects. It is the indomitable genius of
this nation which in the darkest moments of its historical life has been
able to throw some brilliant flashes over the history of the human race.
It is Greek industry which to-day plays _par excellence_ the most active
part in the propagation of culture in the East. Intermediate between the
West and the East, the Greeks assimilate with an astonishing rapidity
the results of progress; and the ancient East, that unfortunate mummy of
history, begins to be born again, to revive, to breathe, to speak, like
the legendary statue of Memnon, under the breath and at the approach of
the new spirit casting its vivifying rays on the motionless and silent
body of the _alma mater_ of human civilization.
Here is a country which formerly existed and which lived only in its
past, and which to-day presents itself with promises, aspirations,
claims on the future. It was only an historic tradition, a sad souvenir,
a geographical expression, a land of the dead, where everything was
lacking except the sun, which still shone as a lamp which cast a
mournful light on the tomb of a departed glory. This land has to-day
become quite young again. There are towns now, where formerly the
shepherd led his flock silently among the ruins of a past which he did
not know. Athens, formerly an insignificant village, is to-day the
finest town in the East, and may be compared with the first cities of
the West. She numbers, according to the recent census, more than 70,000
inhabitants; the Piræus, which contains more than 20,000 of this number,
has latterly become the centre of the industrial activity of the new
State. All the large towns of Greece are now centres of commerce, of
manufactures, of culture. The population which existed at the time of
the creation of the new kingdom has been doubled, in consequence of the
material development of the country, whose prosperity is every day
attracting foreign capital. The credit of Greece is assured in the
money-markets of Europe in consequence of the much desired agreement
which has been come to between the Government and the creditors of the
unfortunate loan of 1824. Already the _Times_ is raising its voice in
favour of the Greek exterior loan recently contracted at Paris. Greece
has, indeed, yet other unworked resources; she lacks only sufficient
means by the aid of which she might continue her civilizing march in
history.
The disquietude and uncertainty in the condition of Eastern affairs
which have followed upon the war and changed the political condition of
the Balkan peninsula have not been able to completely arrest the
intellectual movement which is a peculiar trait of the Hellenic race. On
the contrary, there has in recent years been observed in the life of the
nation a more active and serious tendency to a radical improvement and a
more complete reorganization of the education of the country, and
particularly of popular instruction. This famous word, which for some
time past has been going the round of Europe, and according to which it
was the German schoolmaster who gained the victory over France, is in
Greece also, as everywhere in Europe, the watchword of the day, which
occupies individuals as well as the Government. The impetus which was at
first given by the _Syllogoi_ on this fundamental question of a more
complete instruction of the nation has been followed by the Government,
which does not ordinarily distinguish itself by taking the initiative in
general questions which do not particularly affect its political
interests. Primary normal schools, on the model of those of Germany,
without, however, losing sight of the character and the individuality of
the Hellenic mind, have been founded in different parts of the kingdom,
and in the Turkish provinces; and we hope that this lively and generous
impulse will produce the most glorious and most useful fruits in the
future of the nation. A thorough and living popular education is always
the fundamental basis of the morality and liberty of nations. It is
always the surest guarantee of their intellectual and national
independence. In modern society, in which, according to the famous
saying of Royer Collard, democracy moves like a ship in full sail, in
which the people, by universal suffrage, take a direct part in the
affairs of the State, popular instruction ought to be always very
extensive and scattered abundantly among the people. We would even say,
quoting from M. Jules Simon, that no citizen who does not know how to
read and write ought to take any part in the concerns of the State. Our
Governments unfortunately do not take the initiative in order to revive
the noble tendencies of the nation. However, there are here individuals,
associations, and societies (_Syllogoi_), who, in a way different from
that which is taking place in other countries, have the preponderance
and make up for the deficiencies of the Government.
It is to the "Society for the Propagation of Greek Literature" that we
owe this new impetus which has been given to public instruction. Popular
instruction, methodical, practical, according to principles and
experience of modern science, at present occupies all the enlightened
minds in our nation, both in independent Greece and in the Greek
provinces of Turkey. The principal aim of this society is the
instruction of the two sexes, especially in the Greek communities of
Turkey, and the publication of works useful for the young and for the
people generally. It has, according to the latest returns, founded at
Thessalonica a model school similar to those of Germany, in which are
four classes, five masters, and 118 pupils. It has, moreover,
established in the same town a normal school to educate masters for
primary instruction. This same Society has also opened, in several
communes and communities of enslaved Greece, schools for boys and girls.
It has subsidized several schools in the communes of Greece and in the
Greek communities of Turkey concurrently with other Societies, which
have the same end in view, of instructing the people and of maintaining
the patriotic idea in the Greek provinces of Turkey, which the rising
wave of Panslavism to-day threatens to engulf. In order to attain this
object, the Society has, up to the present time, published several works
of instruction, and has expended considerable sums in the purchase and
distribution of books for the use of the people. It has founded at its
own cost, or aided by the liberality of generous fellow-countrymen,
several prize competitions, the most important of which have for their
subjects the Greek language, education in Greece, the mercantile marine
of the country, labour, the improvement and encouragement of
agriculture, manufactured and artistic products, commerce, and the
means of communication and circulation in general. At the present moment
one of our fellow-countrymen, who knows how to put his fortune to the
most noble use, M. Zaphiropoulo, a rich merchant of Marseilles, has
placed at the disposal of the Society the necessary funds for publishing
some geographical maps, in order to give a better knowledge of the
historical geography of Greece. These maps are those of "Ancient
Hellenism," of "Macedonian Hellenism," and of "Hellenism during the
Middle Ages." These maps, taken in conjunction with that which was
recently published at the cost of the same donor, will serve to give the
most exact and complete idea of the historic and national unity of
Hellenism.
The "Parnassus," a Society of young men connected with literature and
the sciences, has for its object the progress of the nation and general
usefulness. This Society is developing day by day, and will soon become
one of the most active and serviceable agents of the literary education
and the scientific movement of the country. The Parnassus pursues this
aim by the reading during its sessions of articles and memoirs, by the
collecting of documents and materials relating to the language, songs,
and popular legends, as well as by the publication of these works in a
Review which appears under the title of [Greek: Neoellênika Analekta].
In this collection are published popular songs of modern Greece,
riddles, proverbs, distichs, tales, &c. Under the auspices of this same
Society is published another Review, bearing the name of the _Syllogos_,
which has already won, by its articles so interesting and full of
learning, the first place in the periodical press of Greece. But what
specially indicates the exalted and philanthropic point of view in which
this Society has placed itself is the foundation of a school, almost
unique of its kind, and which does not exist even in Europe--that which
is called the "School for Poor Children." In this school the classes are
held in the evening. They comprise reading, writing, arithmetic,
grammar, physical geography, Greek history, and elements of natural
philosophy and chemistry. It is an interesting sight to see attending
these lessons each evening a number of orphan children, who, by means of
a suitable education, will one day be good citizens and useful members
of society, whose enemies they would probably have become had they
remained without education and without a moral influence on their
character.
It is perhaps needless for me to enlarge upon other learned societies
and associations having an analogous object in view--such as the
Archæological Society, the Association of Friends of the People, the
League of Instruction, the Musical and Dramatic Society, and other
similar ones, which demonstrate that activity of the Greek mind--always
vigorous, always aspiring after moral victories--which is the
characteristic feature of all its history.
This movement was manifested in a brilliant manner some time ago, when
the general congress of all the societies and associations assembled
under the initiative of the Parnassus Society. This was a most evident
proof of the intellectual and national unity of Greece. Representatives
from all points wherever Hellenism is scattered--of free Greece, of
enslaved Greece, and of the Greek colonies established in all parts of
Europe--assembled at Athens, that Jerusalem of the dispersed people. The
congress, which lasted a fortnight, discussed several questions touching
the future of Greece and her mission in the East. We are unable at this
moment to say what were the results. What we hope is that from this
moment may commence a new era of work and of activity, greater, more
important, than that which has already preceded our modern history.
Alone, more or less proscribed, finding in the policy of the Western
Powers only a cold indifference, our future depends entirely upon
continual and persevering labour. Greece, though, doubtless, she has not
yet produced men worthy to be compared to the ancients,--those masters
in every branch of science, art, and literature,--is nevertheless the
most active agent in the propagation of Western civilization in the
East. We have seen this phenomenon produced in the Congress of the
_Syllogoi_, where might be seen the representatives of Athens and of
Constantinople, of Macedonia and of Asia Minor, of Alexandria and of the
Greek colonies established in Europe--of all places, in short, where the
beautiful and sonorous Greek tongue makes itself heard--discussing all
the questions which constitute the vital force of Hellenism. The words
of an ancient writer who called Athens "the Greece of Greece" were
brought to my memory when the president, in a parting address to the
members of the congress, called this latter "the organized manifestation
of the public consciousness, and the incarnation of the intellectual
unity of the nation."
This unity is concentrated in the University of Athens. This is the most
brilliant star, which directs the nation in the ways of civilization and
progress. It exercises a great and salutary influence as well in the
free country as in the neighbouring provinces. Pupils of the University
of Athens become zealous apostles, who propagate in all corners of the
East devotion to the national sentiment, and reawaken the ancient
traditions and hopes of the future. At the doors of the University young
men from all the Hellenic countries, who will form the generations of
the future, meet and mingle, more and more. This fusion of the nation,
fortunately already begun by those great struggles for independence
during which all have passed through the same dangers and kept up the
same combats under the same standard, the University is gradually
completing, by prosecuting unremittingly the double aim which it
proposes to itself,--that is to say, the education and the unity of the
Hellenic race. More than two hundred doctors of every branch of science
go forth from the University annually, and spread themselves throughout
the East, among the Greeks or other nations, carrying with them the
salutary influence of civilization and of the spirit of modern times.
The University, which includes four chief faculties, possesses at the
present time an endowment of nearly £166,000, made up of the donations
of various liberal fellow-countrymen, one of whom, recently deceased,
bequeathed to it £33,000. According to the return of the last rector of
the University, from the foundation to the end of the academical year
1877-78, 8426 students have attended the lectures, of whom 3130 have
obtained diplomas. We think that in these figures, more than in the
whole of our argument, may be seen that vital force of Hellenism which
it exercises on the destinies and the future of the East.
The character of the intellectual movement in Greece is didactic rather
than scientific, in the widest acceptation of the term. We have not yet
here those strifes and debates which at the present time agitate and
enliven the modern mind in Europe. We teach, and teach. This is our
mission for the present. Debate, which, if I may so express myself, is
the luxury of science,--strife, which betokens a vigorous body trained
by labour for the combat, have not yet disturbed the peace of our
intellectual arena. We do not concern ourselves with philosophical,
theological, or social discussions, and latterly we have abandoned even
political discussions, which a few years ago were the exclusive
occupation of the newspapers and of the professional politicians at
Athens and in the provinces, because the whole attention of the nation
has been turned towards the Eastern Question, the solution of which
concerns alike its present and its future.
We are in the epoch of translations, but not yet in that of production.
Our printing-offices are every day reproducing the results of Western
science by means of translations, which spread abroad useful information
for the instruction of the nation.
There have not been many original productions within the last few
months. M. Koumanondis, the distinguished archæologist, the well-known
author of a learned work, [Greek: 'Attikês epigraphai epitymbioi]
(Sepulchral Inscriptions of Attica), frequently publishes in a
Periodical Review of the University, the [Greek: Athênaion], very
interesting papers on the archæological discoveries which are daily
being made in Hellenic soil. M. Anagnostakis, one of the most eminent
professors of our Faculty of Medicine, has recently published two
pamphlets full of interest relating to the archæology of that
science--[Greek: Melitai peri tên optikên tôn archaiôn] (Studies on the
Optics of the Ancients); and another small work in French, "Encore deux
mots sur l'extraction de la Catarracte chez les Anciens."
But a work by the eloquent Professor of History at the University is
that which is most deserving of particular mention--viz., the [Greek:
Epilogos tês historias tou hellênikou ethnous], which has been published
in French under the title of "Histoire de la Civilisation hellénique."
It is a summary of his large work in five volumes on the history of the
Hellenic nation from the most distant period down to our own time. The
writer has had for his object to establish the idea of Hellenic
civilization and history, so often called in question in the West. We
may boldly affirm that the author has attained the object of his labour.
At a moment when Greece is condemned in Europe unheard, this book has
appeared very opportunely as a defence of Hellenism. It is thus that the
European press characterizes this product of an enlightened patriotism,
in analyzing it in terms as flattering to the author as to the nation
for whose apology this book serves.
We have here made a rapid sketch of the intellectual work of the last
few months. We do not wish to speak now of other publications and
labours of young men who promise still more than they realize for
science. What we have to say to-day is that Greece, which has taken some
eminent steps in progress and in modern culture, ought to repeat to
Europe with assurance these words of her Archimedes: [Greek: Dos moi pou
stô kai tên gên kinêsô] (Give me a fulcrum, and I will shake the earth).
The narrow horizon within which this small kingdom was enclosed when it
was created does not allow of that intellectual spring and flight which
is necessary for the accomplishment of the views and wishes of those who
see in Greece the most active and enlightened propagator of civilization
among the peoples of the East. Lord Beaconsfield has said of us
recently, that we ought to hope, because _the future belongs to us_. I
know not whether these words are a biting irony of the author of
"Coningsby," or whether they express his sincere opinion on the future
of Greece in the East. Doubtless the future belongs to those who hope
and work; but no nation can produce anything great by struggling on a
soil so small, so barren, and so narrow, just as no individual can work
efficiently if deprived of every resource, and kept without air and
light.
Such is the position of Greece to-day. She can neither work sufficiently
for her physical and moral development, nor become powerful and capable
of contending against the Panslavist invasion in the East. Europe will,
no doubt, understand this at last; but it will then be too late.
N. KASASIS.
FOOTNOTES:
[76] See CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, December, 1876.
[77] "Histoire de la Civilisation hellénique," 399, 400.
CONTEMPORARY BOOKS.
I.--BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
(_Under the Direction of the_ Hon. and Rev. W. H. FREMANTLE.)