UNFOUNDED REPORTS.

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from the 25th of Dec. and I need not add, that the report is totally unfounded. The Greeks are stated to have taken several ships of the line from the Turks-this also is false: they have, since the commencement of the Revolution, burnt two or three, but they do not possess, perhaps, in their whole navy, a larger vessel than a brig of two hundred tons at the very utmost. Those which we have met with hitherto have not exceeded thirty or forty tons. The truth is, they are unable to build and equip ships of any magnitude, and they have not funds sufficient to purchase them. With their small vessels they cruise up and down the islands, and principally by means of fire, effect the destruction of the larger ships of the enemy. But then the Turks are so incorrigibly supine, that though their actual losses are, in comparison with their resources, very trifling; yet they suffer more by this desultory mode of warfare than by undergoing positive defeats. The subjects of the Porte already begin to murmur; and reports are abroad that the present sultan will be dethroned ere long, and his son, a lad of about nine years old, set up in his place. In fact,

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GREEKS.

the janizaries are said to be in a state of actual rebellion, owing to the measures of depression which the reigning sovereign has long adopted. He would fain weaken their influence, and when a contest of this kind is carried on between parties so constituted, it is not difficult to foresee the result.

The Greeks, I am quite clear, have all the qualities necessary for making them redoubted warriors: patience, perseverance, and a high determined valour are their characteristics; so far as I have seen, there has been no reason to charge them with bad faith. But I have as yet seen little; and their very acuteness, which is universally admitted, argues, I fear, (when considered with reference to their depressed and persecuted condition) a propensity to exert it in a bad cause as well as in a good one. I have heard numberless anecdotes of their obstinacy, treachery, and petty trickery; but of these I do not credit half; and of the rest, I think that there may perhaps be many circumstances, concealed or not understood, which might palliate and almost justify the facts, which primâ facie are deserving of the harshest denomination. It is extremely difficult where

SMYRNA-EXECUTION OF FOUR GREEKS.

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we now are to obtain accurate information of what is going forward; the Greeks themselves exaggerate their successes, and the Turks falsify them in toto. But unquestionably the balance of fortune is on the side of the former: and I verily believe that their own misconduct alone can prevent the ultimate attainment of their liberties.

Sunday, 6th Feb.-Four Greeks of Smyrna having attempted an escape on board an Ionian vessel, were retaken by the Turks and put to death. It is customary for the executioner here to use a long and sharp sword in the performance of his office, at which he is sufficiently dexterous, but in the present case (for what reason is not apparent) an ataghan had been employed. The men knelt down upon the quay near the Pacha's house, with bared necks, and heads drooped for the stroke of death. In the number of these unhappy victims to Turkish cruelty was an old man; he also was placed in the manner I have mentioned, but instead of taking off the head, the ataghan fell upon the hinder part of it, sinking deep into the skull, and he was actually struck SEVEN times before the murder could

216

SMYRNA-INTERMENT OF A SAILOR.

be completed. In the mean while the place re-echoed with his cries and groans; and when one of the English residents in Smyrna, attracted by the noise, approached the spot, the heads were thrown upon a heap, and the trunks spouted forth a flood of gore! Such are the scenes to which the Turkish government accustoms its subjects; and such are the facts at which, while humanity shudders, the Mussulman only exults!

The dead body of the sailor was interred this afternoon in the burial-ground of the Factory, with military honors: the marines, with their arms reversed, preceded by the band playing the dead march in Saul, and followed by the officers and seamen, accompanied the body through the streets of Smyrna :—the day was rainy.

Monday, 7th Feb.-We were at a ball this evening given by an American merchant-the agent of the American government. The Turks refuse to acknowledge the independence of the Americans, and will not allow them a consul in the place. Suleiman Aga, (our old friend) was present at the ball, and seemed vastly entertained with what he saw. It is understood

BAD MANNERS OF A PACHA.

217

that he applied for an admission to the balls of the Casino, but that it was not thought proper to assent to his request. The reason assigned is, that a former Pacha who was admitted to these assemblies (he has since lost his head!) behaved himself with great indecorum, not only smoking and ejecting his saliva upon the dresses of the damsels, but even accosting them in improper language. They fear, therefore, that the admission of Suleiman would become a bad precedent; and that the future would be marked with consequences prejudicial alike to themselves and their assemblies. This, it must be owned, is a good reason enough; but others have said, that some little jealousy of the French, &c. arising from the civilities shewn by the Aga to Englishmen, has prompted the refusal. I have nothing to say upon the point: either or both of the causes may have had their weight. Suleiman indeed avers, that were he ten years younger he would make a trip to England; and a superb double-barrelled "MANTON" which he has procured, testifies that English manufactures have no less charms for him than English society.