arrested them in such a project, when they remembered that their only pretext for the long wars they had waged against the French revolution was the disposition shewn by France to force her political systems upon other nations, systems at least as plausible as that of the allies, and maintained by those who propagated them with at least as much honesty. The conduct of the French convention in this particular is denounced by Martens as monstrous; but circumstances alter cases; and this worthy publicist, in his capacity of member of the German diet, would probably have applied a much milder epithet to the invasion of Naples by the allies under the same pretences. It affords some consolation to the regret, which must be felt by the friends of liberty at the success of such proceedings, to find them reprobated in all the civilized parts of the christian world with a more general consent of the public voice, than has been applied to any measure since the partition of Poland.

Thus all the arguments, which could have been employed by the allies to justify their invasion of Italy, had been completely refuted in advance by the whole tenor of their language and conduct for thirty years past. These powers have since taken pains to refute them in another form by the policy they have adopted in regard to the Greeks, which

may be looked upon as a reductio ad absurdum of the doctrine of legitimacy. A horde of wandering barbarians carry fire and sword through the fairest region in christendom, and succeed in subverting its government. They are the common enemies of Europe, and have repeatedly attempted to spread their desolating dominion over the rest of it. Nothing but want of power prevents them; and instead of acquiring civilization from residing in the neighbourhood of christian countries, they have given, at the very moment when the allies were deliberating upon the subject, more horrid proofs of barbarism and cruelty, than appear in any part of their previous history. The nation that groans under their yoke, and is now making a probably fruitless effort to shake it off, is, on the contrary, in itself, one of the most estimable branches of the European family, and is especially dear and interesting to all the rest, as the intellectual parent, to which they are indebted for their present superiority over the other parts of the world. Here then, since the allies have established the doctrine of interference, was a cause in which it might have been applied with general approbation. I venture to say that there is not a heart in christendom, unconnected with this holy league, that would not have swelled with extacy at the emancipation of Greece,

and the return of freedom and civilization, to the country from which they sprang. No doubt there is some illusion in this enthusiasm, but it is an illusion which every generous mind is proud to indulge, and which comes in aid of the incontestable claims of natural justice. Here then, the allies might at once have proved their honesty and have done something to redeem their popularity. But no; the Grand Turk is, it seems, legitimate; and the execution of the patriarchs in cold blood requires no atonement, calls for no interference, when done in the name of legitimacy; while the introduction of the most important improvements in administration into a country, which is perishing for want of them, is a sacrilegious and treasonable enterprise, that must be crushed by open force, because it bears the name of revolution. Instead of interfering in favour of the Greeks, the allies have, on the contrary, done every thing to discourage them, short of an absolute military alliance with the Turks. In reality it is their policy, according to the short-sighted and mistaken view they are accustomed to take of it, to frown upon this enterprise. The establishment of a powerful government, administered on liberal principles in their immediate neighbourhood, is not a pleasant thought to these iron despots; and a constitutional Greek

empire would be a still less agreeable object of contemplation than a constitutional kingdom in Italy. Instead of favouring the erection of these fine countries into an independent state, it suits their purpose much better to leave them as they are, till the proper period arrives for taking them. into their own hands, a measure for which a sufficient pretext will never be long wanting in the conduct of such a government as that of Turkey.

All the accounts from the theatre of this struggle are so contradictory and uncertain, that it is impossible to form an opinion upon its present state or probable result. It would appear that the Greeks have been successful in the peninsula and on the islands; and that they have the command of the sea. If they have really gained these advantages, it will be hardly possible for the Turks to recover them, should they even maintain themselves in the provinces along the Danube; and we may venture to indulge a hope, that at least the proper territory of ancient Greece, the scene of so much greatness and glory in former times, will now resume its political independence. This would at once relieve the most numerous and civilized portion of the christian subjects of Turkey from that detestable yoke, and would furnish a rallying point for the future efforts of the rest. The day, it may be

hoped, is not now very far remote, when the civilization of Europe will overflow its present limits, and carry wealth and happiness through the whole of those delightful but desolate regions, that embosom the Mediterranean. Could the christian powers but act together for good with as much cordiality as they often do for evil, the regeneration of these countries might be accomplished almost without an effort. The expense, which has lately been so miserably employed in crushing the liberal institutions of Naples, would, under such circumstances, have been sufficient to establish them in every part of the domains of Islamism.

CHAFTER V.

Germany, including Austria and Prussia.

Ir is one of the anomalies in the political constitution of the German confederacy, that it comprehends several powers, which are wholly independent in regard to the government of the greater part of their dominions, and have subjected only a small portion of them to the laws of the union. It would be worse than simplicity not to see, in this arrangement, a mere pretext for the interference of England, Austria, and Prussia in the affairs of Germany