er prepared
this precious decree. It tells its own tale; it is too diplomatically
laconic. It served its purpose in Europe: it looked so well suited to act
as an annex to a protocol. Here, however, we have the source of half the
evils of the Greek monarchy. King Otho's reign commenced with a violation
of law, order, and common sense; and as this violation of every principle
of justice had been openly countenanced by the political agents of the
protecting powers, King Otho was misled into a belief that Great Britain,
France, and Russia, wished to deliver Greece, bound hand and foot, and
despoiled of every right, into his hands.

Various reasons, at the time, induced the Greeks to submit to these
proceedings without a murmur, and even to turn away from those who
endeavoured to raise a warning voice. The truth is, no sacrifice was too
great, which held out a hope of putting an end to the existing anarchy.
About thirteen thousand irregular troops were occupying the richest part
of Greece, and destroying or consuming every thing that had escaped the
Turks. The cattle and sheep of the peasantry were seized, the olive trees
cut down for fuel; and while the people were dying of hunger, literally
perishing for want of food, these banditti were feasting in abundance. The
political Greeks, the jackals of diplomacy, cajolled the people and the
soldiers, by declaring that the allied powers had furnished the king with
money to pay the troops, and to indemnify every man for the losses
sustained during the revolution.

King Otho and his regency did at last arrive, and they brought with them
an army of Bavarians. The king was received with a degree of enthusiasm,
and with proofs of devotion which would have touched any hearts not
protected by an impenetrable padding of beer and sour crout. But it was,
unfortunately for the young king, the fashion at the new court to despise
and distrust the Greeks, to underrate their exploits, and to declaim
against their honesty. The revolution was treated as a war of words, the
defence of Missolonghi as a trifle, and the naval warfare as a farce. The
Greeks have since, on the mountains of Maina, and on the plain of
Phthiotis, shown themselves so far superior to the Bavarians when engaged
in the field, that we shall say nothing on that subject. Their honesty has
been generally considered more questionable than their courage; for though
the names of Miaulis, Kanaris, Marco Botzaris, Niketas, Kolocotroni