to the scene of the Sultan's immediate political anxieties, his military service against the northern rebels, and his usefulness as a check upon the occupants of the Ionian Islands, together with the press of more urgent affairs abroad, long served to suspend his overthrow. But the restoration of peace at last deprived him of the protection of circumstances; and his subsequent atrocities were with difficulty expiated at Constantinople. The massacre of the Gardikiots seemed to complete the accumulation of his crimes; its announcement and explanation, though accompanied by presents and apologies, was coldly received by the Divan, and the approaching ruin of the vizir became at length apparent to all. Ali was himself by no means insensible to his danger, but he still cherished hopes of being able to avert it; and by means of lazarettos and a cordon sanitair established on all the great roads leading to the capital, on the plea of a plague existing at Constantinople, he contrived to secure the papers and persons of several capidgis sucessively commissioned to procure his head for the decoration of the seraglio.* He sought likewise to strengthen his party by attaching to himself the remnant of the Klephts * Carrel, p. 247. who had preserved their liberty after the defeat of Blachavas. In lieu of his former barbarous policy, he all at once held out to them offers of the utmost lenity and kindness; and so successful were his attempts that for some time previous to his fall the most distinguished chieftains and their followers, amounting to upwards of twelve thousand, were enrolled in his service, and the free cantons almost without exception were all under his protection, and either virtually or nominally submitted to his tribute.* The practice of arms and the military ardour of the mountaineers were thus kept alive and vigorous, and at the same time the more energetic and vigilant lovers of freedom took care to adopt measures for the encouragement and concentration of that spirit of liberty which had gone so widely abroad throughout the nation. The grand instrument for effecting this desirable purpose was the Heteria or secret association, to which I have before alluded.† This remarkable institution, which had suffered Carrel, p. 238. Rizo, Hist. p. 166. A list of the northern and Moreot Klefts and the number of their retainers, as they existed in 1819, will be found at the conclusion of the fourth chapter of Rizo's History. + Chap. xvi. p. 427. materially by the death of Rhiga,* was revived in Greece about the same period with the es The exact origin of the Heteria is a matter of dispute amongst the annalists of Modern Greece. I have followed, as most probable, the opinion of Rizo (Hist. part. iii. c. i. p. 241,) that it was a revival of the society established by Rhiga. In this he is supported by the other native historian of the revolution, Soutzo, who states that the late Heteria was an incorporation of the 'Adexpoñoinois, or fraternity of Rhiga, with a new constitution and more extended object. (Histoire de la Revolution Grecque, pp. 13, 15.) Pouqueville, with his usual sickening anxiety for romance, speaks of its origin with an air of clap-trap and mystery: "La société des Hétéristes, fondée à Vienne en 1814, de concert mais je m'arrête, comme cet écrivain de l'antiquité, averti par un génie qui lui défendit de révéler les mystères sacrés d'Eleusis." (v. ii. p. 309.) In this passage, however, as well as in another in his first volume, (p. 424.) he refers its establishment to no earlier a date than 1814. M. Rabbe concurs in the same opinion, and adds in a note another romantic story about its foundation by four merchants, who, after meeting at some nameless place, determine to free their country, and depart each a different route to Russia, Turkey, Italy, and Germany, in order to organize a society and make proselytes. (Introd. to Raybaud's Mem. p. 172.) Carrel follows the opinion of M. Rabbe. (p. 293.) Mr. Waddington, in the Introduction to his Visit to Greece, likewise dates its existence no farther back than 1814, (p. xviii.) and Colonel Leake gives his authority to the same idea. (Outline, &c. p. 43.) The knowledge of a like society being founded but a few years before by Rhiga, the certainty of its existence, however limited in extent, down to the revival of the Heteria, (Rizo, p. 242,) together with the similarity of its object and consti tablishment of the Philomuse or literary society at Athens. Its design, in its renovated form, was simply the recovery of Grecian liberty; and for effecting this momentous object every essential requisite was combined in its constitution which required from its members moral probity, genuine patriotism, unsullied honour, inviolable secrecy, and liberal pecuniary contributions.* Blending with its regulations an air of somewhat childish mystery, its ceremonies and forms of admission resembled in a great degree those of the Carbonarit and other secret associations of Europe, although we have no direct or conclusive evidence of the existence of any intelligence with them. ‡ tution, seem without any farther conjecture to identify the two institutions, especially when their incorporation is distinctly asserted. * 6 Γραικός, βεβαίως θερμὸς ἐραστὴς τῆς πατρίδος, καὶ καλὸς avopamos," is the specified qualification of a candidate for admission, who on his initiation swears to consider the secret of the society sacred as a sealed letter, " σφραγισμένα γράμματα.” + See Memoirs of the Secret Italy, particularly the Carbonari. 66 · Societies of the South of Papers are said to have been been laid before the Congress of Verona convicting the Greek Heterists of correspondence with the Italian Carbonari, but neither the precise allegation nor the nature of its proof is correctly ascertained. A very minute and interesting account of the Heteria, indeed the most perfect which I have seen, is contained in the During the few years which preceded the Greek revolution the agents and emissaries of the Heteria were dispersed throughout every country and province where Greeks had established themselves. Repeated efforts were said to have been made to procure the countenance and support of the Russian cabinet,* and though these are said to have been all unsuccessful, their cause was enthusiastically espoused both at St. Petersburgh and Moscow,† and more especially at Odessa, Taganroc, and the southern cities of the empire, where their ephorias, or branch associations flourished in most active vigour.‡ They extended at the same time over the two hospodariates, Bulgaria and Servia, and were established at Constantinople, Smyrna, and all the trading towns of Turkey. Corresponding societies existed in every district of Greece, from the Morea to Macedon, and in every European state where the Greeks had been induced to settle; the capitani of every clan, the principal proprietors of shipping, the mer second section of Mr. Waddington's Introduction to his Visit to Greece, where the reader will find copies of the oaths, forms of admission, &c. Rizo, Hist. p. 247. Soutzo, p. 16. + See Greece in 1823 and 1824 by Colonel Stanhope, p. 29. Waddington, Introd. pp. xlix. xxxi. |