of the plains of Ioannina. Should the Moslem Albanians be obliged to retreat from Ioannina within the frontiers of Proper Albania, and those of the maritime part of Epirus remain neutral, no part of the plains of Thessaly would be any longer tenable by the Osmanlys.

During the last two years the Porte has been sufficiently alive to the difficulties of its situation. to try the effects of conciliation with its rebellious subjects. The Turkish admirals have endeavoured to enter into terms with the three islands which form the heart of the insurrection; and the government has made some spirited efforts to punish or suppress the vindictive spirit of their Musulman subjects in those parts of Europe and Asia where the Greeks, regardless of what they have already suffered, or of the example of their more prudent countrymen who have retired to Samos, Crete, and other islands, are, by the small proportion of their numbers, left at the mercy of the Turks.

In the campaign of last year (1823), besides proclaiming an amnesty, the Porte sent several dignitaries of the Greek church to persuade their countrymen to submission: some of these proceeded from the head-quarters of the Seraskier,

in Upper Thessaly, into the neighbouring moun→ tains: others made a similar attempt in the Peloponnesus; it is almost unnecessary to add, without the smallest success. For such must be the result of their negociations as long as the Turks persist in using the word 'amnesty' only. No one who has a correct idea of the previous condition of the two people, who considers to what an extreme their mutual hostility has now proceeded, or who is aware of the weakness of the Turkish government, and how incapable it is of insuring protection to the Christians, will suppose it possible that the Greeks can trust to any compact with their late rulers but such as shall be guaranteed by their own arms-such as shall liberate them from all dependence upon Turkish faith and Turkish mercy-such as shall exclude the Ottomans from all real authority in Greece.

It might be supposed that the Porte, after the experience of the three past years, would be not unwilling to amputate the deceased limb, lest the malady should spread to more vital parts-lest a cry of liberty, raised by the entire Christian population of European Turkey, should be reechoed by that of Syria and Armenia; and that having still so much to fear from her great north

ern neighbour, she would be inclined to place the Greeks in a condition to be of greater use to her perhaps as allies, than they have ever been as slaves. The Greeks on their side ought to be still more anxious to come to terms, for although it may not be possible for the Turks to reduce the south of Greece to its former state without the assistance of dissensions among the Greeks themselves; yet those dissensions will be greatly promoted by a deficiency of pecuniary means, as the Turks are fully aware. The war has already dissipated all the wealth which a long course of industry had collected; it may be doubted whether Greece has not already arrived at the extent of her credit with other nations; while the power which the united forces of Constantinople and the African states possess of maintaining a naval war from year to year, cannot be met without a continued expense, and may lead to the greatest distress. Let us hope that the glory of putting an end to this cruel contest is reserved for that mediation which has already so successfully diverted the threatened hostilities between Russia and the Porte, thus preserving the general peace of Europe and equally consulting the true interests of Great Britain, and the ultimate advantage of Greece herself.

We shall not detain the reader with any reflections upon the provisional constitution of Greece, proclaimed at Epidaurus on the 15-27th of January, 1822.* It is scarcely possible to reduce these laws to practice in the present state of the country, and the scheme is confessedly only provisional, intended to give place to various amendments when the independence of Greece is confirmed. And this perhaps is a fortunate circumstance; for we cannot compliment the Neo-Hellenic legislators on having adopted the scheme of a quinquepartite executive, which experience has so well shewn to be unsuited to civil government.

Still less are we inclined to occupy our readers with speculations on the probable consequences of the revolution of the Greeks, on the future destinies of the remainder of European Turkey, or with any reflections on the policy of the leading powers of Europe, as it may be affected by the One or two observations connected with the subject, however, we shall hazard, as the Greeks may, perhaps, do well to consider whether they do not furnish an argument for inducing them

same event.

A Copy of the Constitution, accompanied by a Preface and translation, was published last year in London. 8vo. Murray.

to embrace the first reasonable offer of their late oppressors, and rather to insist upon terms of safety than extent of liberated country.

It may be observed that no great degree of power and opulence, or of prosperity in agriculture, commerce, or manufactures, can revisit Greece until its population is very greatly increased; that the Peloponnesus would not be so densely peopled as England, if all the Christians of Continental Greece speaking the Greek language were collected in it; that the Peloponnesus, the Cyclades, Euboea, and Attica would form a state chiefly dependent upon naval defence for its safety, and consequently more easy both to establish and preserve than a larger portion of Greece with a more extensive land frontier; and that such a state, if governed with prudence, would infallibly have the effect of meliorating the condition of all the Greeks who might remain beyond those geographical limits, by affording them a refuge from oppression, or by obliging the Turks to treat them with justice and lenity in order to prevent their emigration. We have included Attica in this imaginary partition of Greece, not so much from the prejudice of ancient recollections, as from the immense importance of the

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