5(J Fair Play for Greece. QJAN. 



parental authority ; left to the care, or rather to the neglect, of strangers, 

 they reap just that share of knowledge which " puffeth up/' and enables 

 the crafty to become craftier, and the foolish vain. They reap immo- 

 rality in all its various grades ; they lapse into infidels, and " glory in 

 their shame." They learn, in short, all the very worst parts of human 

 nature, and practise them with interest in a land which slavery has 

 debased, and ignorance brutified. It is precisely among those who have 

 been educated in civilized Europe, that we observe the most vicious 

 portion of the Greek people. 



Upon a government, then, so constructed, its members, from their 

 very nature, necessarily at variance with one another necessarily 

 addicted to petty intrigue ^-rendered incapable by previous habits and 

 education of understanding the exigencies of government of supply- 

 ing deficiencies and devising resources while this incapacity is evident 

 even to the most illiterate Greek, how can a nation depend ? We hear 

 much of policy and "diplomatic relations;" and we see thousands even 

 in Europe, after years of intense study, unable to comprehend the mysti- 

 cism which they involve. To say truth, in many cases, diplomacy, like 

 sublimity, is often valued only .as it is most unintelligible ! But without 

 study, little or much, without knowledge of mankind, or of the common 

 usages of mankind, what avails it that the Greeks have a government ? 

 What rightly-conceived policy can they pursue ? " E' assolutamente 

 necessario per un buon politico il sapere a perfegione 1'istoria," says the 

 subtle Ganganelli, " e conoscere il secolo nel quale egli vive, per sapere 

 in qual grado di forza e di spirito sian coloro die compariscono sulla 

 scena del mondo ; a fine di poter incuter timore se siavi della debolezza, 

 far della resistenza se siavi del coraggio, e finalmente per poter impome 

 se siavi della temerita."* In all these requisites, it is scarcely necessary 

 to add, that the Greeks must be deficient. 



The Capitani, also, as we have before stated, are destitute of all the 

 essentials called for in situations similar to the present. These men 

 have not, perhaps, been engaged in commerce ; and, therefore, it is not 

 to such occupations that we are to charge the poverty of their souls. 

 But what have been their habits ? Theft, or the most servile depen- 

 dance upon the worst of their species. Ulysses, Goura, Coletti,t Laedo- 

 reki, and many others, were the favourites of Ali Pacha. In his school 

 they were trained ; in his school they acquired the arts of treachery and 

 barbarity. Of him they obtained the craft which enabled them to conceal 

 their views till the victim trembled beneath their grasp ; and to pursue 

 every path, however desperate, in the attainment of their wishes. A 

 they were dependent on Ali, others were dependent on them. They 

 would, of course, select only such men as were capacle of becoming fit 

 instruments ; such as had no other will than that of their master, and 

 who found their surest and most ample reward in proving faithful to 

 him. When the revolution broke out, and AH was cut off, these men 

 poured forth from their fastnesses to batten upon Greece. It is the mis- 

 fortune of every revolution to need the resolute and unscrupulous. Such 

 the necessities of Greece compelled her to accept ; and such, unless by 

 timely prevention, will be her ruin. Yet the hand of Providence seems 

 to mark the justice of her cause. One by one they have perished. The 

 traitor to his master alike falls the victim of his own servant ; and the 



Lett. 88, Vol. 1. 



j- Coletti was attached rather to Veil Pacha, the son of Ali, in the capacity of physician. 



