608 
combats for her skies—to crouch no 
more beneath the talons of the vam- 
pires that so long have gorged the vitals 
of her progeny! Aid her great cause, 
ye nations! encourage her, protect her 
in her aspirings! Attribute not to her 
the barbarism in which shé too long 
was plunged, but to the chains that 
held her down to the sordid earth. 
Help her to annihilate those chains, 
that they may oppress no more. So 
will you partake her laurels; and share 
with her in all the glories which, under 
the auspices of liberty, and in the ener- 
gies of national independence, she here- 
after may achieve. 
; M. Scurnas, Grecian. 
. 7 We dc maT 
Historicat ‘Sxetcu of the Onicin, 
Procress, and Present CHARACTER, 
Morat and Poxrricat, of the Greek 
Kuerurat. 
eff HEN, with the examples only 
‘before our eyes of the civil and 
settled state of a well-organized society, 
we give the names of banditti and moun- 
tain-robbers to the Grecian Klephtai; 
and -assdciate with the words, bandit 
and robber, the signification and attri- 
butes which, to persons so described, 
must, in a legal and settled state of 
society, belong—we abuse our own un- 
derstandings, and misguide the passions 
and judgments of others, by presenting 
erroneous pictures to the imagination ; 
like those historians, of courtly style, 
who, in relating the events of distant 
‘epochs, carry backwards with them the 
ideas of the manners, the obligations, 
and the political state of their own age 
and country. 
If we would estimate truly the moral 
character of any description of persons, 
we must consider the circumstances 
under which they act. Such an exami- 
nation may, sometimes, induceé us to ac- 
knowledge, that there may be, and have 
been, circumstances in which outlawed 
banditti, instead of ‘being the worst of 
their species, might be more estimable, 
or, at any rate, more defensible, than 
those by whom they are outlawed: 
Whemreckless power, or foreign usurpa- 
~ tion, tramples and oppresses a people— 
when government is but rapacious 
tyranny—the mountain fastnesses of . 
the bandit may become the only citadels 
of patriotism, and associated robbery 
and depredation only a protraction of 
the justifiable war of the oppressed— 
_too feeble in. resources for collective 
condict, yet too: valiant for tame sub= 
mission. al 
Historical Sketch of the Greek Klephtai. 
“A great people,” says M. Thierry, in 
the eloquent and philosophical introduction 
to his History of the Conquest of England 
by the Normans, “ are not so quickly sub- 
jugated as would seem to be intimated by 
the official acts of those who govern by the 
right of force ; and the resurrection of the 
Greek nation proves that it is a strange 
mistake, to consider the history of kings, or 
even of conquering nations, as that of all 
the country over which they hold dominion. 
Patriotic regret still lies deep in the breasts 
of men, long after all hope for the old cause 
of the country. has expired. This feeling, 
when it has.no longer the power to create 
armies, still creates bands of partizans, poli- 
tical brigands in the forests, or on the moun- 
tains ; and causes such of them as die on 
the gibbet, to be venerated as martyrs. 
Recent works have informed us that this 
is the case with the modern Greek nation ; 
{See the discourse prefixed to the collection 
of the popular songs of modern Greece by 
M. Fauriel]: and I have found it to. be:so 
with the Anglo-Saxon race, in collecting its 
history where it had not yet been sought— 
in particular facts—in legends, or popular 
traditions, hitherto deemed unworthy to be 
made the foundation of a serious work and 
a probable narration. The resemblance be- 
tween the condition of the Greeks under 
the Turks, and that of the English race 
under the Normans—not only in the lead- 
ing features of servitude—which it is easy 
to conceive,—but also in the particular form 
assumed by the national spirit amidst the 
sufferings resulting from oppression,—in 
the moral instincts and superstitious no- 
tions to which they give birth,—in the 
manner of hating those whom there is the 
will without the power to conquer, and of 
loving those who still contend when the 
multitude have bowed their heads,—is a 
fact worthy of especial: remark ; and the 
éomparison may not be wholly unservice- 
able in the moralstudy of a man.” 
* From Mr. C.B. Sheridan’s version of 
™M. Fauriel’s work, above referred to, 
we will quote so much of the preface, 
&c. as may illustrate the position of 
M. Thierry, and. place. the character of 
the Klephtai, or mountain-robbers of 
Greece, in a proper point of view. 
The author is speaking of the capa- 
city of the Greeks to defend and govern 
their country; and, consequently, of the 
injustice of shackling their freedom 
with the condition of receiving a foreign 
sovereign. 
“ That they are, at this present moment, 
a brave and hardy nation, their recent con- 
duct has proved.’’—‘‘ The accounts of their 
national. character, presented to us by a 
long succession of travellers, haye been 
mainly erroneous. This has arisen neither 
from an intention to deceive, nor from any 
want .of observation, ar even of judgmezt, 
on 
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