Smyrna, I Think, May Be Called The Chief Town And Capital Of The
Grecian Race, Against Which You Will Be Cautioned So Carefully As
Soon As You Touch The Levant.
You will say that I ought not to
confound as one people the Greeks living under a constitutional
government with the unfortunate Rayahs who "groan under the Turkish
yoke," but I can't see that political events have hitherto produced
any strongly marked difference of character.
If I could venture to
rely (which I feel that I cannot at all do) upon my own
observation, I should tell you that there was more heartiness and
strength in the Greeks of the Ottoman Empire than in those of the
new kingdom. The truth is, that there is a greater field for
commercial enterprise, and even for Greek ambition, under the
Ottoman sceptre, than is to be found in the dominions of Otho.
Indeed the people, by their frequent migrations from the limits of
the constitutional kingdom to the territories of the Porte, seem to
show that, on the whole, they prefer "groaning under the Turkish
yoke" to the honour of "being the only true source of legitimate
power" in their own land.
For myself, I love the race; in spite of all their vices, and even
in spite of all their meannesses, I remember the blood that is in
them, and still love the Greeks. The Osmanlees are, of course, by
nature, by religion, and by politics, the strong foes of the
Hellenic people, and as the Greeks, poor fellows!
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