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THE

UNITED STATES

LITERARY GAZETTE.

VOL. II.

APRIL 1, TO OCTOBER 1, 1825.

BOSTON:

CUMMINGS, HILLIARD, AND COMPANY-WASHINGTON STREET.

1825.

1857. April. 25.

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We present our readers THE UNITED STATES LITERARY

GAZETTE in a new form.

Our deThe suc

We think it is in many respects a more convenient form. When our Prospectus was laid before the public, it received, at once, that attention and approbation which they always bestow on a good design. sign, as stated in that prospectus, is not changed. cess of the work is evidence, that it could not be changed with a hope of improvement. We shall, therefore, devote ourselves, zealously and perseveringly, to the attainment of the objects, which we then proposed. We shall occasionally offer our readers articles and intelligence upon some topics, which it was not in our mind to discuss when we commenced the work. But as to the future character of the Gazette, we make no promises. We shall therefore disappoint no hopes. We think it is right to merit the public approbation, and then we may with confidence expect it. EDITORS.

REVIEWS.

Greece in 1823 and 1824, being a Series of Letters and other Documents on the Greek Revolution, written during a visit to that country, by the Hon. Colonel Leicester Stanhope. To which is added, the Life of Mustapha Ali. Philadelphia. pp. 308.

1825. Svo.

A LITTLE more than a year ago, the name of Greece was on every tongue in America. The newspapers, the magazines,

and the reviews echoed it from one to another. In our cities, towns, and villages, meetings were held, and resolutions were passed; and, in some of them, (the last great proof of earnestness) money was subscribed. Our pulpits took the alarm, and proclaimed to us the cause of Greece, as the cause of Christian liberty and truth; and, finally, on the floor of Congress, the subject was brought forward, in the most imposing form, by an individual whose name carries a sanction in it of all that he recommends; and in one of the most masterly speeches ever made, it was proved by him, that the liberation of Greece was of moment, of high moment, to the cause of political liberty in all countries. He pointed out the dangerous language in which the crowned corporation in Europe, under the pretence of denouncing Grecian rebellion, in reality denounced the general cause of popular liberty; and he asked the representatives of the people to consider, whether, consistently with the neutral position and policy of this country, nothing could be done to encourage another free state struggling into being.

But by dint of much after speech-making, the conviction, which this most able appeal had wrought on the minds and hearts of all who heard or read it, was done away. The question subsided in the house, and the interest taken in it subsided in the country; and had Greece herself subsided into her former quiet subjection to the Mahometan tyranny, we do not know that it could have excited much sensation here. For the last twelve months, not to say the last twentyfour, it has been nearly impossible to get the public ear for any less dignified topic than General Jackson's traitorous recommendation of an union of parties, or Ninian Edwards' memorial. Now that these momentous matters are awhile put to rest, the question may be said to recur upon the revolution of the Greeks. How stands their cause? Is there any rational probability that the Greeks will emancipate themselves?

If there is, it is an important subject. The Greeks, if they throw off the Turkish yoke, will become a free people. This may seem rather a truism than a proposition of moment. But it is not a truism. We say, that, in all events, if the Greeks succeed in throwing off the Turkish yoke, another free state will be numbered among the nations of the earth. Many persons think it is out of the question to establish a republican government in Greece; that the people in Greece are not ripe

for it, that they are not prepared for liberty; and that if they were ripe for it, the Holy Alliance would not permit them to have a free government. We even read in the papers published by Colonel Stanhope, that many of the leading patriots in Greece, talk of a king; of a foreign king; of the son of the late crazy monarch of Sweden; of the Duke of Sussex. This may all be true, and yet it is not inconsistent with the proposition, that Greece may become a free state. We do not think monarchy so favourable to the highest degree of freedom as democracy; on the contrary, we consider monarchical institutions as totally inconsistent with the highest degree of liberty. But they are not inconsistent with some liberty, with a good deal of liberty. There is liberty in France, in England, in Prussia; liberty worth having. Nay, though in a less degree, there is liberty in Austria and in Russia; not much political liberty, we grant, but liberty very important to private happiness. Property is secure from arbitrary and violent exaction, private justice is honestly administered, and even the growth of literature and science encouraged, when political questions are left untouched. We are now confessedly stating the bright side of things; not for the purpose of deception, but to meet the worst supposition of what would befal Greece, in the event of her throwing off the Turkish yoke. We think, in that event, even if the Turkish despotism should be succeeded by a monarchy in Greece, a monarchy upheld by the military power of the surrounding mighty states, that Greece might still be considered as a new free state, in whose appearance on the list of nations even we republicans ought to rejoice. It is certainly better that Greece should be governed by a christian king, and governed by laws, than by a lawless Mahometan tyrant. The govern ment of Francis and Alexander, bad as it is,--and worse cannot be in a civilized christian country,-is better than the government of Ali Pacha or Sultan Mahmoud. If the Turkish government, instead of being on the verge of ruin, were as strong and menacing as in the days of the Amuraths and Mahomets, if, instead of trembling in his seraglio, at Constantinople, the Sultan were storming the gates of Vienna, and the grand vizier landing an army in Otranto; if the Tartars were in Poland, and the Moors in Sicily and Spain, as of yore, we should all think this was much worse for the cause of liberty and humanity, than the present condition of those countries, bad as that is.

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