598 
tractable auxiliaries, as difficult to be 
got rid,of,as to. keepin order; 500. it 
seems, receive ‘rations for, 1,200, which 
isoaTurkish custom, very-apt,to mislead 
people with respeet:to. the»strength: of 
their armies 1} 
\We:pass' over the petulanciés and int 
consistencies of Lord Byron on'the sub- 
ject.of the liberty..of the press, and his 
Sparrings with ColoneFStanhope on that 
subject. Enoughhas been made of them 
in the daily prints.’ The XXX Letter 
offers sketches more worthy of remem- 
brance. : 
* The Capitani being the most powerful 
and influential men in Greece, I will give 
you a short account of one of them, named 
Stonari, . This chief lives at a village called 
Kutchino, near the river Aspropotamos, in 
Thrace. A portion of his property lies in 
the plain, and the rest in the mountains. 
He possesses about one hundred and twen- 
ty villages, and each of these contains, 
upon an average, about seventy families. 
The people of the mountains are chiefly 
occupied with their herds. Stonari him - 
self has about 7 or 8,000 head of cattle, and 
his family altogether own e2bout 5,00,000. 
They consist of horses, oxen, cows, sheep, 
and goats, but chiefly of the two latter. 
The flocks remain.seven months in the 
mountains, and the rest of the year in the 
plains. The Capitano lets out his cattle to 
herdsmen, who are bound to give him 
- two pounds of butter, two pounds of cheese, 
two pounds of wool, and one-~ piastre. 
Each family has from fifty to one hundred 
and fifty head of cattle, and they generally 
clear a small tract of ground and cultivate 
it. They do not belong to Stonari, but, are 
held by the cultivators, who pay one-third 
of their rent to the Turks, one-third to the 
Capitano,, and one-third for the mainte- 
nance ofthe soldiers. 
“* The peasantry live ill. They have 
eighty-nine fast-days in the year, in addi- 
tion to the regular fasts, which are every 
Friday, and Saturday. On other days they 
eat cheese, butter, and bread; and on 
Sundays and festivals meat. The women 
are treated like slaves, and perform all the 
hard Jabour. [he Capitani and Primates 
pay little more respect to their wives than 
to their vassals. "When a stranger appears, 
the women kiss his hand, and bring him 
water. | They do not appear at table with 
their lords. 
“The inferior Capitani, under. Stonari, 
each receives the dues of three or. four 
familes, and each commands a certain num- 
ber of men. 
“The regular soldiers under Stonari 
amount to 400. | He could muster, 3,000 
more from among the peasantry,» They 
are paid only during three months in, the 
year: the first class receive twenty piastres 
per month ; the second, fifteen; and the 
third, twelve. They live well, and eat 
Greece, tn 1823 and 1824: 
twice a day bread and meat. They teceive: 
their rations from the owners of the hodtises: 
where they dwell. ~'Phéy are” fathishea® 
with ammunition, and didesité Snake shoes 
of from the Capitanojobuii/they/findstheir’, 
Ownarms. and ¢lothese« | ‘Dhey are subject. ; 
ed to no military discipiline or punishment,» 
and can quit their chief at pleastre.... } V Any 
on a march, the officers, of the yillages 
through which they pass, must furnish theny 
with quarters, and the owners of the houses" 
where they lodge, must’ provide’thém Avith, 
food and whatever they demand’ if thé 
do not, they are sure to be, ill-tvgated., The 
troops cannot, howeyer;.remain aboye three; 
or four days in the same village... . ‘Lhere,, 
isa Primate in each village. These, Pri, 
mates are under-the control of the Capitani,, 
who are the princes of the country.) Lach 
village is generally provided with; two,.or 
three priests, who receive from, 100 to 
600 piastres yearly. The people are yery 
religious, and fear their pastors.» There 
are several monasteries in Stonari’s district, 
but no nunneries. In the Morea there. are 
two nunneries. The Priests-are not gene- 
rally rich. Justice there is none. .The 
Priests, the Primates, or the; Capitani, de- 
cide arbitrarily in all'cases.; The wives of 
the soldiers remain in the villages: during 
their husband’s absence, to look after their 
families and flocks.”’ tin 
As the protracted abode of Colonel 
Stanhope at Missolonghi is drawing’ to 
a close, it is fit we should’ state, in his 
own words, the object of his mission, ~ 
“The first great object of the, Greek 
Committee in England is to give that, civil, 
and military knowledge to Greek) of which 
she has been deprived under the satanic 
government of the Turks.” CTa5v0R 
And for all this, though other means 
were far from being neglected, Colonel 
S. seems to have had particular reliatige 
on the influence of a free press; for the 
establishment of which he seems to, haye 
laboured with indefatigable, enthusi ran 
and relative to which, inp. 114, we, find 
him thus exulting. t 2qoou mister 
** The press now Hourishes. wher the! 
good work commenced, all parties: ‘talked 
of its being inapplicable to a rude state'of 
society, and other common placés ‘equally’ 
unfounded in reason and experience. ~ Now. 
all are interested about it, and may write 
for it: nay, such is the rage for it, that 
the English insist upon. my leaving’ one of 
the presses, in order that they manly publish 
a Frank newspaper here, for the ‘islands, 
for England, and for America. — Count 
Gamba is named as the editor : the aftiéles 
will be in. English, French, Ttalian, “aiid 
German: the contributors, young’ titer 
engaged in the cause. Lord’ in’ Witt 
contribute Jargely in both money and )tiiat" 
ter. The editor of the German Chroniéle, 
with his usual liberality, has offered, ae 
, 
