I have hitherto, in the cases of Poland and Cracow, been able to find nothing. The cases of Cracow and of Poland show us how Russia may infringe the commercial Rights of England -violate the faith of Treaties-trample on the Rights of Nations-perpetrate every crime in accumulating the means of aggression, and be supported by the power of England, in opposition to the Will of the Nation-against the resistance of an indignant World!

CHAPTER VI.

GREECE.

"The internal Organization of Greece is a vital Question for the Emperor."-Count Nesselrode.

AN examination of the march of British and Russian politics requires a coup-d'œil over the recent transactions between the Court of St. Petersburgh, the British Minister and the ill-fated Kingdom of Greece.

The origin of the Russian Empire-the Source whence has sprung the Russian diplomatic System-the immediate object to which that System is directed-is, Greece. The importance of the Russo-Greek question is so stupendous-its action on the fortunes of the World, destined, within no short period, to be so all-powerful, that, although I intend only to make allusion to one or two features in the connection between the British Cabinet and the Russian, during the last few years, yet for the proper appreciation of any portion of them, I conceive it will be both beneficial and interesting, as indeed it is necessary, to take a brief survey of those early events which contain the germs of a future Empire of the East and West.

The Russian Empire, now of greater territorial extent than of old the united empire of Rome and Greece, though not much known to Europe till near the end of the seventeenth Century, was well known to, and in communication with, the Greek Emperors, at Constantinople, near eight Centuries before that Time. We have no authentic History as to its existence till about the year 840, when the Prince Ruric laid its foundation, whose Dynasty reigned till the commencement of the seventeenth Century, when the succession to the Throne of the Czars passed into the present reigning Family of Romanoff. The Christian Religion was first introduced into Russia by the Princess Olga, widow of Igor, who was Son and Successor of Ruric. This Princess came to Constantinople in 941, during the Reign of the Emperor Zimiscos, who had stood

her Sponsor at the baptismal Font. On her return to Russia, she was accompanied by a number of Greek Priests, Literary men, and Statesmen, who were intent on using the means which this conversion of a Russian Princess might afford them, for gaining some strength to the Empire-then in the deplorable state of Imbecility, Anarchy, and Faction, which are the unfailing Precursors of the dissolution of Nations. The labours of this Colony soon appeared in the mental grafting of the Grandson of the Princess, Vlodimir, one of the greatest Princes that has ever occupied the Muscovite Throne. Gifted with great ability, both military and civil, Vlodimir was inspired with the loftiest aims, and with unbounded ambition. He was imbued by the Greek Priests (the founders of Russian Diplomacy) with the desire of allying himself with the Roman Emperors of Constantinople, and he promised to embrace, with all his subjects, the Christian Religion, if the then Emperor Basil Porphirogonetus would give him in marriage his Sister, the Princess Anne.

The Empire, a prey to the bitterest religious Feuds, and torn by intestine Factions exposed to aggression from every quarter, and its power of resistance neutralised by the excess of fanaticism and party dissension raging within its Bosom, rejoiced in the prospect of a union with the Sclavonic Savages, and regarded the proposition of Vlodimir as a benefit conferred by the Great God, the Protector of the Empire! The offer having been accepted, the Princess Anne was sent with every form of Imperial étiquette, and in great pomp, into Russia, accompanied by Anastatius, the Bishop of Corfu, who was sent by the Patriarch of the Greek Church, Photius, to administer Baptism and celebrate the marriage. Vlodimir was baptised under the name of Basil, with 20,000 of his subjects, in the year 987, when he proceeded to build Churches, Monasteries, and exerted himself to introduce the Christian Religion into Bulgaria. Photius, at the same time, sent into Russia, Bishop Michel Cyrus, as Patriarch of the country, with another colony of Priests, Monks, Metaphysicians, Artists, and every description of functionary adapted for bringing the arts

of civilised life into that savage State-" Civilisation" being at that time at its acmé in the Greek Empire! The Government of Russia then became a compound of the wild excesses of the Sclavonic hordes, with the selfish and polished ingenuity of the sophist Greek-a struggle between the unbridled ferocity of the wandering Savage, and the mild, but crafty and unprincipled Learning of the fanatic Greek. From the death of Vlodimir in 1005, the Russian Empire continued to make little progress in its impulse Eastward, in consequence of the confusion and civil strifes with which it was afflicted, till at length, in the middle of the fifteenth Century, there appeared one of those extraordinary men who are formed by Nature to change the destinies of Empires, and modify the lot of countless generations;-such was JOHN BASILOWITZ the First.

one.

The career of this Monarch was an eventful and an arduous After rescuing his country from dangers both foreign and domestic, his power became confirmed and complete and his Genius laid the foundations of Russian greatness.

It was at this Period that the fall of the united Roman Greek Empire was accomplished, and Constantinople fell into the hands of the Turks. Many of the "enlightened" and "civilised" Metaphysicians, Sophists, Rhetoricians, Priests, Statesmen-(that is to say, the choicest of the Fanatics, Hypocrites, and Scoundrels, which composed the population) —of the Greek empire, took refuge in Italy, but the attention of the most eminent of them was turned to the Colony of their Brethren which rankled in Muscovy, whither they looked as the only Seat of their Religion (!) and by means of whose assistance they hoped for the re-establishment of their Empire and their Church. The Genius and Ambition of John Basilowitz seemed to offer hopes of success to their Enterprise, and it was not long before the exertions of the Greek Priests found a means of placing on the head of a Muscovite Sovereign the Crown of the Cæsars, and in perpetuating the authority of "Divine right" in a Race of Monarchs of their Faith, whose whole power and policy should centre in the unique object of re-establishing the Roman Empire in Constantinople.

The Princess Sophia, daughter of John Palæologus, the

79th Roman Emperor, and niece of Constantine, the 80th and last Emperor, had, during some years, taken up her residence at Rome, where she had embraced the Communion of the Roman Church. At the death of Constantine, Sophia remained the sole legitimate Heir of the Throne of the Cæsars, and the Greek fugitives and courtiers proposed her marriage with John Basilowitz-the Empire of the world was to be the fruit of this Union. The Pope seconded the proposal of the Grand Duke of Muscovy with joy, hoping to make it the means of effecting the union of the two Churches; but no sooner had the Princess arrived in Russia than she again reverted to the Greek Schism. The pride of the Heiress of the Roman Empire could not brook to be the Spouse of a Prince who was tributary to the Tartars, and the efforts of John Basilowitz delivered Russia from their yoke. It was on taking possession of their Capital, Casan, and in that City, that the Conqueror took the title of Cæsar, and was crowned with the same Diadem which is used by the Emperors of Russia to this day. He adopted at the same time the Arms of Sophia, the daughter of the Cæsars-the two-faced Eagle, emblem of the Dominion of the East and West. The Eagle holds in his talons the Imperial Sceptre, and the Globe of the World surmounted by a Greek Cross!

John Basilowitz then talked of the "Divine Right of Kings," and his two successors claimed the title of Cæsar, and traced their descent to the Emperors of Rome! The origin of the title of "CZAR" is very significant, and the Nations of Europe will understand it when the Russo-Greek Cabinet is transferred from the temporary settlements of St. Petersburgh and Moscow, to Constantinople-and the Empire of the CAESARS stretches its wings, long pinioned, once more over Europe and over Asia.

The Policy of Russia is an affair of centuries—has an object fixed, and is undeviatingly pursued. It is not dependent on the Will, the Caprice, or the Ability of a King or a single Ruler; it is a System-a religio-political System, conceived and founded by the fanatic Greeks of the Lower Empire, and perpetuated in a religio-political Body, of which an Emperor is the organ, composing the Secret Council of the