GORDON'S GREEK REVOLUTION.

THIS is a book which must be immediately set apart from the crowd of ephemeral books with which the press is teeming. It is not a book made, but a book conceived and animated, in the true spirit of literature; takes us back to those days when a work was something to abour and think upon for years, and was put forth with some such feelings as a man would raise a monument with.

Colonel GORDON, a man of independent fortune and liberal opinions, early took an interest in the Greek cause, repaired to the country, assisted against the Turks both in purse and person; and, however limited may be the means of a single individual in serv• jug such a people as the Greeks, his aid was highly appreciated, and in his turn lie repaid himself with knowledge. No man, what- ever be his talents, can understand the Greeks, or their cause, or their country, without actual inspection—without having per- haps suffered by their wiles, struggled with the difficulties of their position, and himself contended with or been aided by the rugged and intractable features of the land. All these Colonel GORDON has had deep experience in; though he is so modest and right-minded, and so well aware of the insignificance of individu- als in national movements, that we do not find even an allusion to his own services in these volumes.

A great merit of this work is, that the whole narrative is on the same scale : the author seems to be telling his tale not from this book lying before him, or on this or that man's authority, but in the good old fashion of THUCYDIDES or XENOPHON, as if he was weaving the narrative out of his own brain. The events and their authorities have been so well digested in his mind, that, when combined with his own intelligence and information, they com- pound together one uniform and goodly whole. The spirit of the work is that of a wellwisher to free institutions generally, as most conducive to the welfare of mankind; but there is no partisanship of the Greeks, no prejudice against the Ottomans. Colonel GORDON knows the Greeks too well to love them very cordially ; but he sympathizes too deeply in the progress of enlightened principles of government not to take a deep interest in the Greek revolt. The beauty of moderation in language and temperance deciding upon facts and persons, is, that everybody will listen to you; and as there is a natural love of truth and rectitude in all decently-educated persons, the chance is that a convert is made. There is none of POUQUEVILLES bombast here ; none of BLA- QUIERE'S enthusiasm, or GREENE'S bigotry; and yet this history will do more good to the cause of rational liberty than all these and fifty others who have written against or for the Turks; for it is the truth that it is here put down, and that not intemperately, but mildly and firmly.

The style is plain and clear, with a few exceptions ; and the exceptions rather in the occasional use of uncolloquial expressions than in any general error of phrase or sentence. In this point, revision may be of use. Of all the convulsions of Europe for the last century, after the first French Revolution, there is none that approaches the Greek insurrection for intensity and variety of interest. At its first blush, it extended from one end of the European dominions of Turkey to the other; and though it was soon confined within the proper limits of Greece, it was not till the acting of many a deep tragedy, the development of strange events and stranger and wilder characters. On the one hand, the desperation, the enthusiasm, the cunning, and the baseness of the true Greek; on the other, the apathy, the courage when excited, the cruelty, and the power of the Ottoman. Many were the mountain crag, the rocky monastery, the deep de- file, the marshy ditch, and fenny fortification, that witnessed scenes of alternate bravery and cowardice, treachery and devotion, cruelty, savagery, and heroism, such as are not written in other annals. Again the scene is varied, with the activity displayed on the ocean, the busy piracy of the isles, the heroic devastation of the irulots, the pompous cowardice of the Turks, the nimble trickery of the Greeks ; and a lurid and gloomy light is every now and then thrown across the JEgean by the bloody destruction and con- flagration of a whole community of busy islanders, under the slaughtering hands of some luckless Turkish admiral, reduced to desperation by the necessity of supplying his ruthless master with beads and tales of blood. When the Morea and Greece Proper became the scenes of the struggle, the tide of events turns : we then have the Ottomans sacrificed in their turn ; shut up in hungry castles : or engulfed in treacherous defiles; or at best, wasting their strength and substance before walls impregnable to their laziness, and stoutly defended by the Greek, ever courageous behind a wall. The interference of the Pacha. of Egypt gave another turn to affairs • the intervention of the Three Powers, the " untoward • event" of Navarino, and the elevation of CAPO Dimwit and his assassination, carry on the eventful history. To this point,. how- ever, Colonel GORDON has not come down; and we are led to be- lieve that he may yet add a third volume to the two already pub-• lished. We earnestly entreat him. to do so„when he feels that be has fully satisfied himself on the subject. He is of course not so well situated in point of information as in earlier times; and utterly ignorant as we are of his engagements, we would suggest,. that to a man of case and leisure, identified as he will be now, if not before, with the history of the Greek Revolution, whether a re- visit to her classic shores on the settlement of Onto would not be fully worth his while, and render his third volume as pregnant with interest as the two before us.

From a condensed and methodical work like this, it is not easy. to select extracts which shall be interesting without an exact knowledge of the context. The subject and the persons figuring in the following passage, are, however, sufficiently intelligible to render the matter curious and familiar to the reader, and to furnish a fair specimen of the author's style.

LORD BYRON'S AND COLONEL STANHOPE'S MISSIONS TO GREECE.

There can be no doubt, that in going to Messalonghi, Mavrocordato cal- culated upon the countenance and pecuniary aid of Lord Byron and the Phil- hellenic committees, without which his situation was sure to be a bed of thorns. On the day subsequent to his own arrival he had the satisfaction of seeing Colonel Stanhope, who hastened over from Zante, bringing the cheering news that Byron might soon be expected. His Lordship had finally determined on. visiting Messalonglii, but it was never easy to induce him to commence a journey, and he still delayed, in spite of Mavrocordato's letters and messages ; and, although Grecian vessels of war were repeatedly placed at his disposal, he rather chose to proceed in an Ionian craft hired by himself,—a plan which ez-: posed him to much inconvenience and danger. Departing from Argostolt (December the 28th), he spent the 29th in the harbour of Zante, transacting business with his banker, Mr. Barff, and sailed for the mainland on the evening, of the 30th. He was with a portion of his suite on board a mistik ; and Count Gamba, with the rest of his servants, horses, baggage, and 8,000 dollars in specie, was embarked in a Cefalonian bombard. It happened that on the same night, the Ottoman squadron, informed that the Hydriote vessels were gone home, and only the Spezziotes remained, ventured out of the gulf, and, off the cluster of islets called Scrofes, one of their frigates fell in with Byron: he escaped into a rocky cove, but the bombard was taken and carried into Patrass. Fortunately the captain of the frigate recognized in the Cefalonian skipper a man who had once saved his life in the Black Sea ; and as Turks are seldom un- grateful, he represented the matter to Yussuf Pasha in a light favourable to his prisoners, who asserted they were bound for Calamos, a statement borne out by, their papers. They had, however, left that island behind them, and the cir- cumstances of their capture were so suspicious, that we must do justice to the. Pasha's discretion and urbanity ; he treated Gamba with civility, and on the 4th of January released the bombard, which ran into Messalonghi. Lord Byron was not vet arrived there, having after their separation put into Drago • maestri, whence he wrote to Mavrocordato. The latter immediately sent him a brig and five gun-boats; and after again encountering the perils of shipwreck,, he landed at Messalonghi on the 5th, amidst extravagant marks of joy.

That town was in a strange state or confusion, which might well have

dampc:1 thz arda:: tliE named director-general of the province, had collected an assembly ofall the captains and many of the primates of Western Greece, who came attended by their armed followers, so that the place was crowded with wild soldiery ; and as these were unpaid, and scarcely fed, there was a continual apprehension of quarrels and disturbance, especially as the chiefs neither agreed among them- selves, nor were all well affected to Mavrocordato. The most unruly corps was that of the Souliotes, most of whom, tired of living inactive in Cefalonia, had come to Etolia, and distinguished themselves in repelling the Pasha of Scodra's invasion. Since the battles of Karpenisi and Kalliakouda, they were quartered in 3Iessalonghi and Anatoliko—a heavy burden to the inhabitants ; and they now demanded, in no gentle terms, their arrears of pay for eight months. Equally pressing, and more unreasonable, the Spezziote seamen insisted upon Railing away if they were not paid in advance, and Mavrocordato was forced to borrow small sums from all who could lend. He laid before the assembly a plan for securing a fixed revenue; the chieftains heard his speeches withpatience, con- tradicted none of his arguments, and dispersing to their mountains, conducted themselves in the same irregular way they had hitherto done. Lord Byron had long been anxiously looked for : he was expected to pour out an unfailing supply of money ; and the instant he set his foot on shore, he was besieged by visitors of every class, always beginning their harangues with adulation, and terminating them by begging. It required no ordinary share of coolness and judgment to bear with these endless importunities, and to select proper objects on which to bestow the wealth he intended to devote to Greece. With admirable clearness of vision, he saw at once the delicacy of his position, the character of the people he was amongst, and the nature of their most urgent wants. Conceiving that the essential point was emancipating them from the Turks, and that this was to be done by promoting concord, and improving their military organization, he employed for those purposes all the influence of his name, talents, and riches, and no crosses could make him swerve from the path he had marked out for himself. In Mavrocordato he found a congenial mind, and they always acted heartily together. His other coadjutor, Colonel Stanhope, as sincere in his wish to do good to Greece, took a quite different view of the mode in which she ought to be assisted; he did not deny the advantage of union and discipline, he was willing to aid in their establishment, but, comparatively speaking, he considered them of lesser moment. A zealous disciple of Mr. Bentham, neglecting the present crisis to gaze upon an imaginary future, he turned the question upside down, and began at the wrong end.; he did not perhaps, overrate the importance of education and publicity, but he committed a mistake in point of time. " We want artillerymen and heavy ordnance," said the Greeks !—The Colonel offered them types and printers.. " The Turks and Egyptians are coming against us with a mighty power!"—" Model your institutions on those of the United States of America." " We have neither money, ammunition, nor provisions."—" Decree the unlimited freedom of the press!" If inclined at first to suspect that he was playing off a mystificatwa upon them, they were acute enough speedily to discover the purity of his 9- thusiasm, and to humour his day-dreams. So entirely was he wedded to his doctrine, that he hoped in a few months his journals would enlighten the savage Albanians; that the shepherds and warriors of Roumelia. would peruse the works of Bentham, and Constantinople be shaken by his paper battering-ram. In fine, while we give the Colonel full credit for honesty, benevolence, frank- ness, and firmness of principle, we must come to the conclusion, that he visited Greece ten years too soon. As for. Mavrocordato, his policy never varied : his ultimate scope was, in furtheringthe independence and civilization of his coun- trymen, to hold the helm of government ; his minor care, at that particular juncture, to get rid of the Sod:totes,. and rclain_a_navaLforce in the aulf.

was expedient for him to conciliate the good-will of the PhilheUenes, whose cash might relieve hie present embarrassments, while, by pining their con- fidence, and becoming the centre round which they moved, his popularity would be much enhanced; hence his solicitude to draw foreigners to Messalonghi.

The Committee in London having determined to consecrate their succours to the formation of an artillery corps, their agent, Stanhope, of course applied him- self to that task ; he was accompanied by two or three German officers, and had come under an engagement with the continental committees to take charge of the debris of Kefalass expedition. A person was sent into the Morea to collect the surviving Germans ; the Colonel advanced a sum of 1001. to meet the expense of embodying the corps ; Mavrocordato promised to subsist it for a year, and gave up a large walled building, called the Seraglio, for an arsenal and laboratory. In return, he obtained from Stanhope a loan of 5,000 piastres, to pay the Spezziote squadron, upon pledging his honour that seven vessels should remain for two months ; the contract was signed on the 21st of December, and on the 18th of January the Spezziotes disappeared, leaving the Tin ks to blockade Messalonghi by sea ! In setting in motion his darling idol, the press, the Colonel encountered difficulties which seem to have soured his temper ; Macro- cordato did not object to the establishment of a newspaper, but he feared indis- cretion, and desired to have a control over it. This precaution Stanhope vehemently combated, and after warm discussion carried the day ; on the 12th of January, came out the first number of the Greek Chronicle, edited by Dr. Meyer, a Swiss, and a hot-headed republican. Another paper (the Greek Telegraph) saw the light shortly after, and soon died a natural death ; for being written in English, French, and Italian, few na- tives could read it, and its contents were too dull to interest foreigners. Lord Byron's arrival gave a new impulse to every thing ; besides disbursing his promised loan of 4,000/. he took into his service 500 Souliotes, and liberally subscribed to the artillery, the press, schools, and hospitals. At the same time he corresponded with leading men of all parties, reprobating their disgraceful dissensions, and exhorting them to concur in forming a strong national govern. went; his letters were pithy, full of good sense, and written in a most concili- atory tone. Being desirous also to soften down the brutal character of the war, he seized every occasion to ransom Turkish prisoners, sending them to Yussuf Pasha, who thanked him for his kindness, but never thought of imitating it.

On the 15th, a shattered remnant of Kefidas's Germans came from the Mores, so demoralized by ill health and privations, that out of twenty-six (their whole number) only about half-a-dozen could be made available ; it was therefore re- solved to complete the corps to a complement of fifty men, by enlisting young Greeks.

On the 27th, accounts being received that Parry, with the stores of the English Committee, was waiting for orders at Ithaca, directions were transmitted to him to proceed to Dragomestri. The committee has been rudely attacked for the method it adopted of succouring Greece ; however, the blame (if blame there be) does not rest with that body, since it acted on the advice of persons who had been in the country and witnessed the struggle; and it is yet to be shown, that it could have spent its funds in a more judicious way than: in forwardinglight artillery, amunstion, and military artificers, such being generally reputed indis- pensable appendages to a belligerent force, and being exactly the things Greece did not possess.

Parry, to whom the articles were confided, had been a clerk in the civil de- partment of the Ordnance at Woolwich, was a clever mechanic, and perfectly understood the making of gunpowder, casting of cannon, &c.but he was gar- rulous, • blustering, and rather addicted to intemperance. The stores consisted of one howitzer and eleven three-pounders, all brass mountain guns, with car- riages, limbers, and two forge-carts ; 6,0(tOlbs. weight of excellent powder, 4,000 flannel cartridges, 4,000 round shot ; a blast furnace, with moulds for easiing shot an Biwa; a qitaniiiz of taitpotsa, sulphur, iron, rosin, match, portirea, tools, and instruments; ;a short, all that was required for a brigade of artillery, and a small laboratory: the personnel was composed of a firemaster, fireman, clerk, six workmen in wood and metal, seven English and German voluutcers, and two Greeks. They sailed from Gravesend November the 10th, in a brig, partly laden with Government stores for Malta and Corfu, and, after a good deal of detention at those -two places, entered the haven of Dragomestri on the 29th of January. The articles were immediately unshipped, and conveyed in small vessels to Messalonghi,—an operation which took up a week ; and four days more were consumed in transporting them from the waterside to the Seraglio. - By the 12th of February, every thing being safely housed, the work- men commenced their labours, and there seemed a prospect of rendering the ar- tillery brigade effective.

This delighted Byron, who, full of warlike ardour, and eager to signalize him- self in the field, was bent upon carrying the fortress of Lepanto ; a stronghold, so ill planned and so situated as to to be scarcely capable of offering resistance to a regular attack, but able to bid defiance to the whole power of Greece. Nevertheless, there was a chance of taking- it through the disaffection of the troops within, mostly Arnauts, and in a state of mutiny, not having been paid for many months. Their chiefs negotiated with the authorities of Messalonghi, and agreed to resign the place to Lord Byron, if he would give them a suns of money, and liquidate the soldiers' arrears. The treaty, when far advanced, was broken off, because it was impossible to observe the requisite secrecy ; and Yussuf Pasha getting information, decoyed the principal officers to the castle of the Morea, and introduced into the fortress a body of Ottoman Turks.

Just as Byron flattered himself with the hopes of adding military renown to his literary reputation, he became exposed to a series of annoyances of the most harassing description. His first source of disquietude arose from the bad con- duct of the Souliotes, who, although only 500 strong, exacted from the town 1,200 rations, and behaved with a degree of arrogance that led to affrays be- tween them and the citizens. Displeased at being turned out of the Seraglio, originally their quarters, to make room for the artillery, wrought upon by emis- saries of Colocotroni split into five or six pharas or clans, headed by the aristo- cratical families of Etozzaris, Druko, Tzavella, &c., they did nothing but mur- mur and raise pretensions. Finding that though he ought pay, he could not command them, Byron cancelled his previous agreement with the Souliotes, and began to raise a new corps of 600 men, without distinction of tribe. Ile strove to conceal his vexation, but the circumstance preyed so sorely on his mind; that on the 15th he was attacked by an epileptic fit, from the effect of which lie never entirely recovered. Yet he lost none of his spirit, and, following up every object he deemed worthy of his care, on the very day after this shock, sent to Prevesa twenty-two Mohammedans, who had been captives since the begin- ning of the revolution. In the night of the 16th, a Turkish brig-of-war, Mounting twenty-two guns, grciunded on the shallows within about seven miles of Messalonghi, and it Was thought she might be captured by bringing- two piecei of Cannon to bear upon her from a point of land, and then boarding in boats. However, before the necessary preparations were finished, two other brigs of the enemy came from Patrass; and being unable to drag her into deeper water, took out her crew and stores, and set fire to her on the 18th, when she was totally consumed. This was the second vessel their squadron in the gulf lost by accident, or rather carelessness, for nearly at the same period one of their brigs blew up in the roadstead of Patrass, and all on board save six persons perished. On the 19th, a lamentable event occurred : a Souliote, noted for his bravery, came to the Seraglio with a young son of Mark Bozzaris, and having 1i0 written permission to enter, was stopped by the sentry at the gate. He per- aistedin going in, and the officer on guard (Lieutenant Sass, a Swede) ordering him to be arrested, a quarrel ensued, and the Souliote, having received' a blow, killed Sass on the spot. In an instant alarm pervaded the town ; the Souliote; ran to arms, threatened to storm the Seraglio, and even Byron's house, if their countryman, who had been apprehended, was not set at liberty: the Franks and artillerymen stood on their defence, and both at the arsenal and his Lordship's residence, cannon were planted against the doorways. The riot being at length appeased, the Souliote was released, and Sass interred with the customary ho- nours; but Byron declared that he would return to the Ionian Islands, if those• fierce mountaineers did not leave Messalonghi. They consented to do so on getting 8,000 dollars ; and his Lordship having lent that sum to the primates, a part of them marched into the interior under Costa Bozzaris, but soon Caine back to Anatoliko. Disgusted with the place, and frightened at the recent to, mult, the six English artificers refused to stay, and were dismissed, having cost the committee 8401. for fourteen days' work ! On the 21st, Colonel Stanhope set out on a journey to Attica and the Morea ; lie had latterly had sonic slight differences of opinion with Byron, and he took serious offence at Mavrocordato, who, as he began to perceive, was, in- common with most of the talent and respectability of Greece, desirous of esta- blishing a limited monarchy, and inviting a foreign prince. Although, on all other occasions, the Colonel was endowed with exemplary mildness and the patience of a Stoic, yet impugning his sublime political theories was wounding Achilles on the heel ; his reveries not finding favour in Western Greece, lie went elsewhere to seek for proselytes.