THE GREEK INSURRECTION. T HE second act of the strange drama
which is now being played in modern Hellas has drawn to a close. In the first a single city rose in open insurrection against the foreign Government imposed on the country. The reply was, the march of an army against Nauplia, the proclamation of a state of siege throughout the country, and the arrest and imprisonment of nearly all the liberal men of note within reach of the clutches of the police. The causes of the revolu- tion,however, were too deep-seated to be thus suppressed. The very measures of repression assisted in fomenting the general conflagration, and Government itself unconsciously contri- buted to the spread of the insurrection. It being impossible to find prisons and barracks numerous and large enough to hold all the suspected, the authorities at Athens sent them off, bound hand and foot, to the islands in the .2Egean Sea, to Santoriu, Syra, and other places. This act was productive of the most extraordinary consequences. Wherever one of the political prisoners set foot there instantly the insurrec- tion burst forth, as if the virus had been spread by mere contact with the soil. Syra, itself, the most peaceable of all the isles of Greece, and which remained neutral even in the War of Insurrection, rose against the Government of King Otho, on the appearance of a few political prisoners. On the morning of the 12th of March the lieutenant com- manding the small detatchment of royal troops quartered at Syra, a Mainote, named Leonzakos, hoisted the red cross of the insurrection, at the bidding of two prisoners under his charge, Lieutenant Canaria, son of the patriot Minister, and Sub-Lieutenant Moraitinis, son of the President of the Areopagus of Athens. These young officers forthwith put themselves at the head of the population of the island, armed on the spur of the moment from the stores at the Custom- house. Rich and poor sympathized with the movement, and even the wealthy directors of the Steam Navigation Company conceded the insurgents the use of two of their vessels. This, however, was a fatal gift, as subsequent events proved. Allured by the hopes of gaining over rapidly all the islands of the Egean to their cause, Canaris and Moraitinis forth- with went with their little troop on board the two small steamers placed at their disposal, and set sail for the Isle of Tinos. On the way, the adventurers fell in with King Otho's principal man-of-war frigate Amalia, loaded with fresh prisoners for Syra. A naval combat on a small scale was the consequence, and the result, the capture of the handful of insurgents. The Amalie then pursued her victorious career through the Agean, stifling all insurrectionary movements with shell and shot. At the same time General Hahn suc- ceeded in taking the outer works of Nauplia, reducing the re volutionary sway within the limits of the city, and it seemed as if the guns of the Bavarian Government would carry every- thing before them. Thus ended the first act of the Greek tragedy. The second began on an entirely different field, that of Parliamentary warfare. Exasperated by the career of rapine and violence, by which the foreign ruler attempted to sup- press the insurrectionary movement, even the docile Chambers at Athens now rose against the Government. If proof were wanted of the social cancer which had eaten itself into the heart of Greece it was furnished in this sudden opposition of men who had hitherto been the abso- lute creatures of the court, brought into existence at its bidding, and maintained at its expense. The servility of the so-called deputies of the people had been so great, in fact, as to become one of the causes of the insur- rection. Working upon the cupidity of the members of the Legislature, most of them men without character, elected after the French Imperial suffrage style, the Government at Athens skilfully obtained entire control over them by making them vote an increase of their own monthly stipend, or, more truly, salary. Notwithstanding the dire disorder in the finances of the country, the absolute poverty of the national exchequer, and the nearly complete stoppage of all trade and commerce, the deputies were unblushing enough to decree the augmentation of their own wages, from 250 to 500 drachmae per month. This, of course, but served to make the breach complete between the people and their represen- tatives, and the latter were looked upon generally as men who had sold themselves entirely to the corrupt Bavarian rule. However, low as the deputies had sunk, the cruelties perpetrated against the adherents of the national party, who had taken part, or were suspected to have done so, in the Nauplian insurrection, were such as even to touch the hearts of the most corrupt among them. A secret and sullen dis- content gradually found its way into the Legislative Assembly, and the murmurs at last got vent on the news of the bombardment of Nauplia. M. Gregoriades, in the afternoon of the 28th of March, addressed an in- terpellation to Captain A. Miaulis, the President of the Council of Ministers, demanding an account of the state of affairs at Nauplia. Miaulis answered flippantly, that the insurrection had been extinguished by a few sound cartridges, and that peace and order were reigning through- out the country. This barefaced impudence awoke the anger of even the tamest of deputies. -Up started a crowd of heated faces to reply to the arrogant speech of the premier, wounding to their national as well as individual feelings. Fifty voices attempted to speak at the same time, till above them all the stentorian utterance of Voulgariis found its way. "No," he cried, "you tell us lies ; you have not quenched the insurrection ; not, though you have thrown above a thousand patriots into prison, devastated the coun- try, bombarded a flourishing city, and carried utter ruin into the homes of thousands of °Greek citizens. You tell a lie again if you talk of peace and order. How can there be peace under such a regiment of terror as yours ; how can there be order with your foreign general and his army of vagabonds, enlisted from among the scum of the population ? I curse you and your lies ; and I weep for my poor, poor country which has to submit to such rulers as you. The memory of our fathers, who with their blood sealed the inde- pendence of Greece, cries up to heaven against such infa- mous rule, crying aloud—What have you done with our country ! " The effect of these words was magical. The Assembly re- plied to them with a wild shout, and then relapsed into deep silence. Miaulis himself was mute, as if sinking under the weight of the accusation hurled against him. After a while, E. Simos, the minister of finances, reputed to be the most liberal of Queen Amalia's advisers, rose for an explanation. He uttered a few soothing words about the "misguided men" of Nauplia, excused the hasty speech of his colleague, and promised large reforms, embracing all branches of the, civil and military administration. The words passed un- heeded in the general excitement, and after a few more attempts to speak by other ministers, the Assembly broke up in indescribable confusion. The day after (Saturday) there was no sitting, and on the Monday following, the depu- ties were greeted by a royal commissary, who read a decree dissolving the Assembly. The same day A. Miaulis, the premier, and Andreas Conduriotis, minister of the royal household and of foreign affairs, went down to Nauplia to treat with the insurgents. They first offered a general am- nesty, from the effects of which, however, eleven ringleaders, the officers in the army who had proclaimed the advent of the revolution from the summit of the Palamede,* were to be formally excepted. This curious offer met with no other reply but a cannon-ball from one of the guns of the mountain fortress, which happening to fall a few yards from the dwelling of Messrs. Miaulis and Con- duriotis, spread terror and consternation in their minds. Another messenger was despatched instantly, offering un- conditional amnesty, including the maintenance of all the insurrectionary troops in their former position in the royal army. To this somewhat less insulting communication a polite answer was returned, informing the ministers that what the insurgents wanted was not rank and dignity for themselves, but liberty and good government for their country. Then the premier opened a final parley with the commanders on the Palamede, promising the most extensive political reforms, based on the perfect maintenance of the constitution of 1843. To his amazement, his Excellency re- ceived the dry answer that not a child in Greece would trust the promises of the chief of King Otho's Ministry. Thereupon, Miaulis and Conduriotis returned to Athens, while the garrison of Nauplia assembled on the heights of the Palamede, and once more renewed their solemn oath to resist to the last extremity. A volley of rockets, throw- ing their red light far over the waters of the Argolic Gulf, announced this earnest determination of the small band of patriots within the besieged city. Unknown to them, while their signals were blazing, other fires, in reply to the appeal, were being lighted on the frontiers of Albania. The first news by which Miaulis was greeted on his return to Athens was that two bands of Albanians had penetrated into the dominions of King Otho, with the declared object of sup- porting the insurgents. With this news the curtain falls over the second act of the Greek drama.
As yet it is impossible to say when the whole sad tragedy will be finished, and peace be restored to poor suffering Greece. One thing, however, is abundantly clear, namely, that the present Government is utterly corrupt and unfit to exist, and that it must be completely overthrown before the dawn of a better day can break over the unhappy country. The present fate of Greece was predicted by many, when the great European Powers, in their collective wisdom, chose to place the youthful scion of a semi-idiotic princely family upon the throne, instead of a man of nerve and brains fit to hold the sceptre of the new-born State in a secure grasp. A better choice than that of Prince Otho of Wittelsbach might easily have been made ; a worse it was impossible to fall upon. It is doubtful whether of all the poor kings with whose existence Europe is blessed at the present moment there is one who can carry off the palm from Otho of Greece. His Serene Highness of Hesse-Cassel may beat him in imbecility, and other German Prince- lings may surpass him in love of foppery and empty show ; but for transcendental impotency he has no equal nor superior. That he is blessed with a strong- minded Queen makes the thing worse, if possible. The Greeks have lived too long under Turkish rule not to have imbibed some of the prejudices of their old masters in respect to the fairer half of mankind, and, according to all accounts, Amalia of Oldenburgh, who plays the Amazon whenever she .can, and the femme emancipee whenever she likes, is a perfect horror to them. Hence, the attempts of assassination which have placed the life of her Majesty in jeopardy more than once. If the Greeks have never yet shot, at King Otho it is, perhaps, because they think he is not worth shooting. To get rid of him in a quiet legal manner the people have attempted over and over again, but, of course, to no purpose. It is not that King Otho will not * Spectator, March 32. go, but that his royal relatives, who seem to look upon Greece as some outlying province of Bavaria, will not allow him to do so. Royal Otho, like our own George I., prefers his native place to all other spots in the world, as he has shown repeatedly by excursions extending over months and even years. But cruelfate always drives him backfrom the jolly streets of Munich to the classic sandhills of Athens. There is a double pressure on the poor shadow of a monarch, at work both from within and without his realm. The Witte's- bach relations will not let him resign his crown of thorns, which they seem to think belongs to the family ; and certain parties in Greece will also give him no leave to withdraw, for fear of their own little game being spoilt under a bond fide King. Captain Miaulis and consorts, it is certain, would have small chance of the sweets of office under any other ruler than Otho of Bavaria ; and Field-Marshal Hahn might have trouble likewise to find extra Bavarian employment for his talents as generalissimo. So the status quo is maintained by fire and sword, and a valiant nation, for whom, not long since, all Europe was praying, is brought to the verge of de- spair. Thirty years ago the wave of sympathy for Greece ran so high as almost to overflow its banks ; now it has fallen so low as not to be visible at all. Greece has got out of fashion in favour of Timbuctoo ; and the chair of Lord Byron is occupied by Mrs. Beecher Stowe. Only at Rome and Naples they pray for Nauplia and Athens ; only in Italy they understand Greece.
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