ions. From the letters and memoranda which
belong to this time we are enabled to learn much of the real feelings
of King George towards some of his ministers, and to {48} understand
the difficulties with which Canning had to deal while endeavoring to
make his enlightened policy the accepted and recognized policy of
England.

[Sidenote: 1822-27--The war of Greek independence]

The condition of Greece began to be a serious trouble to the statesmen
of Europe. Greece was under the sway of the Sultan of Turkey, and its
people may fairly be described as in a state of chronic insurrection.
The Greeks, even in their lowest degree of national decadence, were far
too intelligent, too ready-witted, and too persevering ever to become
the mere slaves of an Ottoman ruler. There was something
inextinguishable in the national life of the country, and it seemed as
if no pressure of tyranny, no amount of humiliation, could make the
Greeks forget the history of their glorious days and the deeds of their
ancestry, or compel them to stifle, even for a season, their hopes of
national independence. A great struggle broke out against the Ottoman
rule, and it roused the passionate sympathy of the lovers of freedom
all over the world. Byron threw his whole soul into the cause, and
stirred the hearts of his countrymen by his appeals on behalf of the
Greek struggle for independence. Numbers of brave Englishmen gladly
risked their lives to help the Greeks. Lord Cochrane, who was
afterwards described as the last of the English sea-kings, rushed over
to Greece to give his genius and his daring to the help of the Greeks
in their struggle against overwhelming odds. A speech of Lord John
Russell's which he delivered in the House of Commons within the hearing
of living men described with admirable effect the enthusiasm which was
aroused in England for the cause of Greece and the efforts which were
openly made even by members of the ruling class to raise money and to
send out soldiers and sailors to enable the Greeks to hold their own
against the Ottoman enemy. Many Englishmen bearing historic names
joined with Byron and Cochrane in giving their personal help to the
struggling Greeks, and indeed from every civilized country in the world
such volunteers poured in to stand by Bozzaris and Kanaris in their
desperate fight for the rescue of Greece. The odds, however, were
heavily against the Greeks. Their {49} supply of arms, ammunition, and
gene