of efficient use. Add to which, he is apt to expect deference where, considering the habits and prejudices of the people, he draws on their forbearance. At length, however, a national guard or regularly organized army is felt to be the only force that can be depended upon.

• When Europe shall hear,' remarks Count Pecchio,that the Greek Government resolved last May to take into its pay 4000 foreign regular troops, and to form four regiments of regular national soldiers, she will find some difficulty in reconciling this measure with the eulogies that have been bestowed on the Greek irregulars, and the prodigies that certain writers have related of this species of guerillas. If, however, attention be paid to the difference of the periods, the impar tial observer will perceive that there has not been much exaggeration in those encomiastic descriptions, and he will also perceive that there has been wisdom shewn in the recent deliberations of the Greek Government.

• At the first breaking out of the Revolution, an uncontrolled enthusiasm was most calculated to terrify, confound, and destroy an enemy, who, attacked on all sides by every species of weapons and diversity of assailant, could find no interval of quiet, no place of safety. Irregular troops are in conformity with this enthusiasm, which rises into a flame in every nation aspiring to liberty. Such troops were seen to spring up in Germany during the thirty years' war, during the revolution of North America, and during the war of independence in Spain. Every individual at the commencement of a revolution, feels an exuberance of courage and daring; he has an ardent desire of revenge, which it is impossible to subject to any control of discipline. Hence he finds a wider field, and one more in accordance with his passions, in fighting as a volunteer, and in the disorder and tumult of a guerilla warfare. But enthusiasm is in its nature fleeting: after a time it cools, and evaporates ; revenge itself is satiated, and the love of glory, like every other passion, finally becomes enfeebled.

* The danger of the case demands truth. Let us be sincere. That ardour which at first placed arms in the hands of the clergy and even of women, has passed away.

There is no longer any revenge to be exercised upon the enemy, no longer any booty to be seized. A large portion of the Greeks, as soon as they beheld their soil freed from the enemy, returned to their flocks and the employments of agriculture. The Capitani, who remained with arms in their hands in defence of their country, perceived the necessity there was for their personal support; and, from disinterested protectors, they became like the Con. dottieri of the middle ages of Italy. By turns, faithful and unfaithful to the Government, now joining one party and now another, venal and changing at the price of the factions constantly opposed to each other, they have become the dread rather of their fellow citizens than of the enemy. The Government, generally incapable of rewarding soldiers of merit, vainly lavishes the titles of colonel and general. The necessity also of diminishing the influence of certain ambitious and insolent chieftains, prompted the expedient of multiplying these ranks. Hence we find in Greece above

300 generals, whilst the whole army does not exceed 15,000 men. These Capitani have no fixed pay; but they pay themselves extravagantly by making returns of many hundred soldiers beyond the real number. The minister of war, in the month of April, told me, that the Government issued

pay

for 17,000 men, though he was certain there were not more than 10,000 in the field. There is neither power nor law to remedy this disorder ; there is neither inspectors of the army, nor commissaries : hence there is no legal mode of convicting the Capitani of fraud; and hence also, the Government has no means of knowing exactly the number of troops it can oppose to the enemy; a most fatal inconvenience. General Anagnostara, one of the three ministers of war, who ought to have had a corps of 2000 men, presented himself on the day of the capture of Sphacteria with only eleven! It was therefore full time to put an end to so ruinous a practice. The enemy is, perhaps, not so strong in numbers as in the first years of the revolution ; but he is more formidable from his plans, his perseverance, and the discipline of his troops. The warfare of the Egyptians is not like the deluging attacks of the Turks, which lasted three or four months and then ceased of themselves. The operations of the Egyptians are carried on with a European prudence, consistency, and ardour. They encamp, they maneuvre, they obey like Europeans ; besides which, they have had many years experience in a successful war against the Wachabees in Arabia, and against the Greeks themselves in the island of Candia. It is therefore indispensable that the Greek Government should oppose to them similar armies, and supply the decay of enthusiasm by skill and discipline. The national regular troops will not in the end prove more expensive than the present irregulars ; and the country will no longer have to fear the rapine of a licentious soldiery, often more destructive than the enemy. The foreign regulars, it is true, will cost much more than an equal number of national regulars; but they are indispensable, to give immediate power to the Government for emancipating itself from the caprice and insolence of the Capitani, whilst, by their example, they will contribute to the formation of the national regiments.'

The character of the native troops is thus described.

• The Roumeliots and the Suliots are the finest and most robust race of men I have hitherto beheld. Their skin, always exposed to the sun, is literally the colour of bronze. Their breast is ample as a cuirass. Nature, besides, has gifted them with a rich head of hair, which

a they leave thick and flowing, and which would be much more beautiful if they had not adopted the practice of shaving it off the temples. The Greeks have always had a great affection for an abundant head of hair. Homer, amongst the many epithets with which he qualifies his countrymen, uses that of “ fair-haired Greeks.” The greater part of them are born and die soldiers. From childhood, they wear at their sides pistols and a sabre, which they never put aside. Like the other soldiers in Greece, they are obliged to provide themselves with clothing and arms. Their pay is a ration of bread and twelve paras a day for their provisions, and twenty-five piastres a month for

a

their other expenses. They have neither tents, nor beds, nor shelter. Their bed is the capote-a stone their pillow-their canopy a sky atways serene. During the whole time of a campaign, they never undress, or change their shirts. They are therefore horribly filthy ; but, on the other hand, their arms are always clean and shining. When they wake, their first thought is to polish and put them in exact order. They are extravagantly fond of handsome and rich arms. which, glittering with gold and silver, make a strange contrast with their blackened shirts. They have not besides either knapsack or bag to contain any thing. Well-made in all respects, they are strong as lions, and active as goats. I saw the noble grenadiers of Napoleon, and I know the superb English guards ; but the Suliots appear to me to surpass both. Their carriage, their bearing, are quite theatrical. They always fight scattered ; every one chooses his post. They are not accustomed to combat with their bodies exposed. Like the ancients, who covered themselves with their shields, they lie flat behind a stone, which protects them, and provided they have a piece of rock, they are invulnerable--so well do they know how to lie close behind it, and to load and discharge their pieces. To deceive their enemies at a distance, they usually place in sight a thin red cap, some way from the place where they are concealed. They are not accustomed to make intrenchments; when they wish to fight together and to fortify themselves, they form themselves into a drum, for thus they call a space inclosed with a little parapet of stones placed around it; from behind this parapet they keep up a fire upon the enemy, for the most part very destructive, as they generally aim well at their mark. General Caratazzo, on the 17th of April, posted in one of these drums, made many hundreds of the Egyptians who attempted to force his position, bite the dust.

• It is said, that the Suliots never make more than three discharges of their muskets, and these at very close quarters, and that they then throw down their pieces and capotes, and with their drawn sabres fall upon the enemy. For they use the sabre instead of the ataghan, which is the weapon adopted by the soldiers of the Morea. If, in this attack, they are unsuccessful, they lose their guns and their capotes. The Roumeliots, and still more the Suliots, think it a great misfortune to lose their captain, no matter in what way,–0 that in the battle they will not sometimes permit him to expose himself much, and they guard him when at a distance from danger. They follow and abandon their leaders at their pleasure. There is no penalty, no dishonour for this desertion; because it is not really deserting, as they quit one standard only to enrol themselves under another. Whosoever should compare these bands of soldiers to the companies of the ancient Italian Condottieri or to the Spanish Guerillas, would not obtain a very exact idea of them. The resemblance is more conformable between them and the old Scottish clans ; the robust limbs of these warriors, and their costume, resembling that of the Scotch, render this comparison much more perfect. In Roumelia, the command commonly resides in particular families, who have merited it by their bravery; and is generally transmitted from father

6

to son. The Suliots have sworn eternal war against the Turks, and have adhered more faithfully to their oath than the knights of Malta. More than a hundred and fifty of these brave men fell in the battle of the 19th of April. This was precious blood that was spilt, for, since the Suliots have lost their country, there remain only about 1000 of them scattered throughout Greece and the Ionian Islands. Their corps, however, are always numerous ; as many Roumeliots, attracted by their warlike fame, love to make war in conjunction with them, and in their school become excellent soldiers. Like the ancient Spartans, they are always followed to war by a great number of Greeks, who fight under their orders.'

Of all the Captains, Colocotroni is the most dreaded, and apparently the most extraordinary character. When I beheld him,' says Count Pecchio,' sitting amid ten of his compa. nions, prisoners of state, and treated with respect by bis

guards, I called to mind the picture that Tasso draws of • Šatan in the council of devils.'

· His neglected grey hairs fell upon his broad shoulders, and mingled with his rough beard, which, since his imprisonment, he had allowed to grow, as a mark of grief and revenge. His form is rugged and vigorous, his eyes full of fire, and his martial and savage figure resembled one of the sharp, grey rocks which are scattered throughout the Archipelago.'

There is something not a little amusing in the self-complacency with which this hoary klepht drew the comparison between himself and Wellington, and in the simplicity with which Mr. Humphreys has reported it. In a conversation at Prince Demetrius Jpsilanti's, he remarked, that the Duke of

Wellington is decidedly the first general of the age; but he thought that if his Grace had, like himself, to do the duty at once of Commissary, Soldier, and General, he would not do • it so well.'

• I found this fine old chieftain,' says Mr. H., quartered in a small village near Tripolizza: his hut was but partly roofed in, had no boarded floor, and one slip of carpet, which the poorest hamlet in Greece is seldom without, was its only furniture. He welcomed me with great warmth. He declared himself most anxious for union, but that the existing Government, under the influence of Mavrocordato and the faction of the Primates, sought his total ruin. He said, “ Let me be judged by my country, and if found guilty, let death be my punishment; but not by a faction, who seek my destruction, and that of all the ancient captains. We, who alone have ever been free; we, who alone in the hour of danger were not found wanting ; after clearing our country of her invaders by our swords, when those who would lord it over all of us sought safety in flight, and only return to enjoy the security we have purchased with our

blood; are they to be our sole rulers?-are they alone to have a voice and a will in the land we have won and kept with our swords? Are Fanariots from the Turkish courts, are adventurers without a name, to root out of its soil its ancient preservers?" There was some truth in his appeal. Colocotroni is eloquent, and to that owes much of his influence over the soldiery. The only terms on which the Government would treat with him, were his going to them with. an escort of not more than fifty followers; which he considered equal to a surrender of his liberty, or his life. The leading trait in Colocotroni's character is avarice; a vice from which few of the Greeks are exempt, and to which he justly owed his loss of power. As an able General he possessed, and deservedly, the confidence of the soldiery and people.'

*

He said, that the majority of the people of the Morea were in their favour; but that the Government was averse to any amicable adjustment, and was supported by foreigners, to whom they held out the prospect of large pay from the English Loan; as Bulgarians, Albanians, and many of the Roumeliots, who having no longer a home, formed themselves in small bodies as soldiers, electing a Captain, and were ready to enter any body's service who would best pay them: and that the views of his party were misrepresented, as their adversaries, having the advantage of education, employed the power of the pen against them, while they only knew the use of arms.'

Vol. II. pp. 222-6.

On his reconciliation to the Government, Colocotroni was received at Napoli with all due honours, and a speech was addressed to him by a member of the legislature, to which he replied without premeditation. He was standing in the square, where, it seems, the inhabitants had been making an excavation in the hope of finding some hidden treasure. Alluding to this circumstance, he said,- In coming hither from Hydra, I have cast all rancour into the sea; do you do so likewise ; bury in that gulf all your hatreds and dissentions. That 'shall be the treasure which you will gain.'

Mr. Waddington states, that he presented himself three or four times at the levees of Colocotroni, and that he received from him repeated assurances of his peculiar respect for the English nation and his attachment to its individual members.

These professions,' he adds, amuse me the more as the old hypocrite is notoriously anti-Anglican, and is continually and publicly accusing the British Government of designs to occupy and enslave the Morea. His manners, however, to do him justice, are utterly devoid of urbanity, and, like his countenance and dress, are precisely those which best become a distinguished captain of banditti. His court seems to consist of about fifteen capitani,.........as filthy a crew as I ever beheld, and for the most part ill-looking and very VOL. XXV. N.S.

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