SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
221 
consequences that would inevitably ensue were France con- 
cerned in the dissolution and partition of this government. 
However desirable it may seem to free the Greeks from the 
miserable yoke under which they long have groaned, yet a 
sudden transition from slavery to freedom would scarcely be 
borne with more moderation by the Greeks, than by the 
French at home or the negroes in the West India islands. 
Nor would the horrors of a revolution be confined to the 
Turkish provinces. The licentious army who might effect it, 
trained and accustomed to rapine and plunder, led on by 
needy or ambitious officers, who, on their part, are spurred 
by the aggrandizing views of their government, would not be 
content to sit down with Egypt as their share of the plunder. 
As Malta was the step that led them to Egypt, so would 
Egypt be to Syria, and Syria to the possession of India ; to 
the plunder of that wealth which, in their opinion, is the 
great support of Britain. Thus would the scourge of their 
inordinate ambition be felt from the Nile to the Ganges, and 
from thence, in all probability, to the Yellow Sea. And by 
adverting to the geographical position of the southern extre- 
mity of Africa, in relation to other countries, and to the ad- 
vantages it commands as a military station, we shall perceive 
with what ease might all the ports of South America be made 
subservient to their ambitious views, and how speedily that 
great continent from the isthmus of Darien to Terra del Fuego 
would fall into their insatiable grasp. The accomplishment 
of these objects, chimerical as they may appear, are prevente4 
only by the transcendent and invincible strength of the Bri- 
tish navy. 
