BOOKS.

THE GREEK AND THE TURK..

A VOLUME under this title, from the well-practised pen of Mr. Eyre Evans Crowe, is the result of a brief visit to Constanti- nople, Greece, the Ionian Islands, and the coasts of Syria and Asia Minor. In form it is a series of disquisitions on the most important places visited, or the topics they suggest. These dis- quisitions have nothing of the commonplace character which often accompanies the descriptive or disquisitional essay. The descriptions are terse and vivid ; the disquisitions exhibit the essence of classical learning, in conjunction with the highest modern philosophy, which looks at things as they really are, apart from scholastic, utilitarian, philanthropic, or conventional prejudices. In addition to these faculties, Mr. Crowe possesses a logical invention, which enables him to see undiscovered truths, as well as to judge of them. His style, though at times a little strained for effect, is close, weighty, and powerfuL His subjects, for the most part bearing upon the great Eastern question of the day, and always upon topics of contemporary importance, have to the reader an interest in themselves, irrespective of mere treat- ment. From all of the questions handled the reader will receive new views or new ideas, if he may not always agree with the con- clusions of the author. On some topics Mr. Crowe's opinions rise to the enunciation of a principle. The boot opens with "The Mediterranean"; and, amid much graphic description and some political disquisition—as on Gibral- tar—Mr. Crowe lays down that the importance of the Mediterra- nean in former times has passed away : the knowledge of the globe and the progress of the world have rendered the Ocean sea of far more consequence to commerce and progress than the Mid-earth sea, the nations on whose confines are in fact decaying. A truth, but not the whole truth ; for the author himself admits that Constantinople and Syria are regions marked out by nature for empire and trade; while he overlooks the importance of the Mediterranean and Egypt as a passage to India. "Malta" has many topics; but the most important topic is the mischief worked by the affected and calculating bigotry of More O'Ferral,—for Mr. Crowe does not allow him the sorry merit of sincerity. " Greece " abounds with graphic pictures of the country and its ruins, min- gled with classical discussions, free from classical cant. The most important discussions about Greece are on the people, the lawmen, and the Bavarian King: of which Mr. Crowe draws as dark a picture as possible, especially of the Greek Ministers and Monarch, and with hardly the relief of a ray of hope. The physical features, the natural productions, the social character, and political feelings of the Ionian Islands and their people, are discussed; the author acknowledging the error of some former prejudices against Sir Henry Ward and his vigorous mode of putting down the rebellion. He arrives at the conclusion that constitutional government is not possible in the Ionian Islands. As a matter of speculation and with an eye to the future, he con- siders that we ought to have given Cephalonia and Crete, which the Turks cannot use, to the Greeks : though, unless we could change the nature of the Athenian court and people, it would seem of small use to have extended their dominions or to extend them now.

The Turks and the Turkish question are considered under a variety of heads,—" Smyrna," "Constantinople," "Women," " Therapia," " Turkish Politics," "War," &c. ; the titles sug- gesting extensive disquisitions, and in a temporary sense form- ing the most important feature of the book. Like some other modern writers, and probably like the subject itself, Mr. Crowe shows some incongruity in his views when they are compared with each other. He holds that the national spirit and power of the Turks have decayed ; their very improvements in the milder virtues contributing to their decline, since their virtues were all barbarian. In his opinion of the evils springing from the Turkish estimate of women, and their domestic relations, he agrees with Mr. Bayle St. Sohn, but enters into the subject more deeply and at greater length. That he agrees with the same writer, and with Urquhart, in their estimate of the latent strength still inherent in Turkey, seems evident ; because he con- siders the best mode of restoring her character and powers would be a long war with Russia—which if Turkey were certain of being crushed at once would be an idle suggestion. From other passages it seems as evident that he considers Turkey cannot of herself re- sist Russia ; and his speculations turn towards the future of this question. He would like a Sclavonian or even a Greek empire ; but he doubts whether that would be practicable, especially with the alternatives of Russian intrigues or open military success. He suggests, as a barrier to Russia at Constantinople, a Greek or Sclavonian empire, or a combination of independent states, and a Turkish barrier against the Russians in Asia Minor. If even this last cannot be, then let France and England divide Western Asia between them ; France taking Asia Minor, and England "the protectorate" of Syria and Egypt. Amid this inconsistency, indicative of the difficulties of the case, Mr. Crowe is clear upon two points,—that Russia will never give up her schemes of ag- grandizement till they are beaten out of her by war ; and that if the Western powers do not fight in the Bosphorus or Black Sea, they will by and by have to fight in the Channel.

"There is with this, however, one idea that should never be lost sight of —one necessity, that must be recognized and prepared for; and this is, that Russia never will consent to the regeneration or independence of the races

• The Greek and the Turk ; or Powers and Prospects in the Levant. By Eyre Evans Crowe. Published by Bentley. occupying Turkey in Europe until the Russians are vanquished in war. There may reign at St. Petersburg Czars of more or less prudence or forbear- ance, and mimstera more or less anxious to keep on terms with Europe. • But there is a sentiment, and an inspiration, and a determination in the Russians, as a nation, which are stronger than any courtesy or backwardness of their Emperor and statesmen. And these impel the Russians to the South-east of Europe, which contains the prize of empire, or to Constanti- nople, which seems to them what promises to be the first and paramount position in the universe. The Russians, we may feel confident, will never abandon this idea till it is well and effectually licked out of them. "This conquest of the old soil of Greece and Turkey implies not only an extension of empire from the White Sea to the Mediterranean and a pre- dominance over the whole extent of Asia, but it implies and carries with it also a dictatorship over Europe, and the ascendancy of the brute portion of the globe over its advanced portion, hitherto intellectual and free. To shake off the yoke, to avoid that ascendancy and tyranny, there is, I regret to say, no reliance to be placed on pacific ideas or philosophic hopes. The freedom of the East and of the world from Russia must, I am confident, be fought for, be gained by the gun and the bayonet, by the leviathans of war, by the heroism which a great nation can inspire into its sons, and can demand of them, by the effusion of blood, the sacrifice of peaceful interests and pro- spects, progress and wealth. "It is not without regret, and it was not without reflection and thought, that I run counter to the Christian philosophy and philanthropic aims of numbers of wealthy and highininded men, who set peace in the front rank of human regenerators, and who at once and for ever desire that all other considerations should be sacrificed to it. But, however I may sbare in the humane and noble hopes of the friends of peace my judgment tells me that the fulfilment of such desires must be postponed until the natural limits of nations be more justly fixed, and until the more dominant and despotic of them have come to lay aside that armour of iron in which they have en- cased themselves, and which they seek to impose upon others. To preach peace to France, England, and Germany, whilst Russia and Austria are • armed to the teeth, and show every determination to make use of the supe- riority of their arms to dictate to those who are less prepared, organized, or armed for war,—this seems to be to sacrifice the great cause of power and of international adjustment, which we must one day arrive at, but which we can only attain by meeting the military genius and masses of the East of

Europe with a force and determination coequal with them. • • *

" The theoretical worship of peace at all price, however, does not much • influence the counsels of either the sovereign or the nation. The depreca- tion of war, as a risk and an expense, prevails there ; and I am far from denying or throwing even a sarcasm on the wisdom of this prudence. But, I fear, that in any council or discussion on the subject, we may lay it down - as an axiom, that the great question of the East can never be solved, nor the great ambition of Russia resisted, without war—serious, actual, and fla- grant war. I am far from saying that the present is the best or the impera- tive moment. The central countries of Europe may be in after times in a better condition for resistance, and England and France may again be as united as they are at present. It is idle for one of the uninformed to pre- judge a question of which all the elements of information can only be known to cabinets. All I would express is a firm belief, that in circumstances and differences which merely employ diplomacy, and which give rise merely to military and naval demonstrations—in quarrels such as these Russia will al- ways come off best, and that for many reasons : let one suffice, which is, that Russia can always know the length to which the forbearance of consti- tutional countries can go, .and the limit within which she may advance with- out producing war. Russia will always advance to that limit, at the least ; and she will thus bear away the honours of victory without the risk of com- bat.

"We may depend upon it, that in order to cheek Russia, the powers of Europe interested in the independence of the Levant must come to the al- ternative of war, or at all events be prepared, morally and physically, for it. Nothing but defeats by land and sea will ever keep the Russians out of Con- stantinople.

• • • •

"The great obstacle, not only to this mode of establishing a balance of power in the Levant, but also to any joint or efficient action against Russia, is that dread of Francs and its alliance which lurks in the bosom of so many statesmen and influential men. If such unfortunate mistrust should lead us to alienate France, at the same time that we remain semi-hostile to Russia, the result will be, first, our utter helplessness as an isolated power, and se- condly, the inevitable alliance of France and Russia at our expense, as well as at the expense of the liberties of Europe and the balance of the world. "The national and popular tendencies of England there are no mistaking at present: they go to amity with France—with France as a people and a nation—without showing regard, disgust, or predilection for her dynasties or governments. France, like ourselves, is too much occupied, and has too much to accomplish in her internal concerns and management, for her ever again to pretend to universal empire. Russia is the only power which me- ditates that, and which is enabled to meditate it by the ignorance and back- wardness of her population, ready. to follow blindly a selfish and despotic ruler. The duty of liberal Europe is to resist Russian ascendancy, that me- naces East and West; the development of commerce in the one, of freedom of idea and of independence in the other. If the powers of the West of Europe do not within the next ten years strike a decisive blow to arrest Russian ascendancy and encroachment, they will be attacked at home, and have to defend in the Channel what they had not resolution to combat in the Bosphorus."

The facts, opinions and speculations relating to Greece, Turkey, and Russia, will naturally have the most interest for the poli- tician. The volume abounds, besides, in matter of that more general kind which is appropriate to books of traveL Descrip- tions of scenery, traits of manners, illustrations of antiquity, facts pregnant with meaning as to modern life, together with specula. tions of a wider kind than temporary politics, continually occupy Mr. Crowe's pen. Here, in defiance of all we hear about the greater tolerance of the Turks, is a picture of Mahometan bigotry in the supposed stronghold of liberality.

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"Very little experience will suffice to show the traveller the immense dif- ficulties n the way of the most liberal Turkish minister to elevate the Christian to anything like even fair tolerance. Row up the Golden Horn to visit the old Christian quarter of the Feuer. You will find op- pression and forced humiliation stamped upon every }louse. Even that of the Patriarch, so powerful and so much talked of, is a dingy diminutive prison—built of stone, indeed, for security, but craving pardon, by its air and its architecture of meanness, for daring to use so costly a material. The little church—the only church of the Christian within its walls—is equally begrimed, equally humble. The very population walk with a bowed expression. And this feeling of self-degradation , of which the Eu- ropean cannot divest himself in any part of Constantinople, becomes in the Faust so painful, that one is obliged to rush out of it. In doing so, and emerging from the gates, you eater, unawares perhaps, the Turkish suburb of Eyoub, famous for the mosque in which all the descendants of Mahomet gird them with the sword. If you dare approach that mosque, you will be stoned. You must sneak through the by-lanes around, and steal a furtive peep. Curiosity more indiscreet might cost you your life."

Yet in juxtaposition with this bigotry is an instance of tolera- tion, or indifference, which perhaps no other European country could equal: a strange example of that inconsistency which meets the Eastern inquirer at every turn, unless he wilfully shuts his eyes to all but one class of proofs.

"Close to Eyoub—to its all-holy mosque and sacred mausolea—there arises the symbol of quite another society and world. It is a factory, in

which wool is carded, dyed, spun, and woven into fezzes or skull-caps for the Turkish service. It is a building such as one would see at Leeds or Manchester, situate at the end of the Golden Horn, between Eyoub and the Sweet Waters of Europe, which forms the daily _promenade of the inmates of harems who are allowed to breathe the fresh am. One cannot imagine a more striking contrast to the scene and spot ; either side of it redolent with Turkish life, or commemorative of Turkish death. English operatives chiefly are employed in this factory; which for their convenience keeps working on. Friday, the Mahometan Sabbath, and stops work on Sunday, to suit the Christian workmen, although it is no day of rest with the Turks. This is really a great act of tolerance, by the side of the great sanctuary of intole- rance—Eyoub."

It seems that Mr. ITrquhart's story of the Russians being fed by what the Turkish soldiers threw away, during the joint occupation of Moldavia, is very probable. Mr. Crowe's picture of the new levies exhibits them as about the best-fed troops in the world.

" I never have been more astonished than in visits to Turkish camps or Turkish men-of-war. As the recruits are mostly from the Asiatic provinces, one figures to himself the wild sons of the East with the ferocity of their native hordes about them. But, on the -contrary, your Turkish soldier is in general a small, mild-looking, plump, goodnatured fellow. He is well fed, and not rigidly looked after. He feeds well, and has plenty of pocket- money; a dollar a month, and his food and necessaries. And his rations are so abundant, that you are very apt to see hungry dervishes feeding on the pewter dish which the grand heroes of the tent have dined upon. Min- gling with military groups, in company with those who understood the lan- guage, I always found the Turkish regular soldier a 'bon enfant.'"

Here is a truth applicable to individuals as well as states, except probably in new colonies.

"The fact is, that the age of adventure and fortune for small states is past. In old times they might beat all their neighbours, swallow them up, and grow great by conquest., as was the case with ancient Rome; or by outstrip- ping their neighbours in manufactures, in trade, in natural skill, they might, like Tyre, or Athens, or Carthage' or Venice, or Holland, monopolize the profit of furaishing the world withluxuries, or giving them in exchange for the rude necessaries of agriculture. The sphere of such activity for even large states is much diminished, but as for small countries they have no chance at all. Large empires now occupy the world, or at least the stage of the world's politics. Such countries as Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland, may live though small, on their pastaccumulations, aetivity, and resources. But a young state like Greece has no chance. Greeks have a taste for ship- ping, and are good sailors. But their own country has no produce, their own sea no fish, their coast no natural way of developing a marine. It was thought they would outrival other nations in the carrying trade. But with small capital, requiring large profit, necessity renders the skipper dishonest; and half-a-dozen cases of barratry are sufficient to outweigh all reasons of economy for employing Gseek vessels in the way of transport. 413-u1it Isa-asicr, that the Greeks had a marine when they were sub- ject to the Turks—why should they not make prosper as freemen what they so successfully commenced as slaves ? Why, indeed! But, 'unfortunately, as slaves or rayahs they were the sailors and ship-owners of the Ottoman em- pire, which favouied Hydra and Spezia especially, and in return for service gave them the valuable privileges which a great and despotic empire can bestow. " Some say, ungratefully, but others more truly say, disinterestedly, the Hydriote and Greek sailors did not shrink from flinging to the winds their privileges, which were the source of exclusive wealth, and sacrifidng them to patriotism. They overthrew Turkish supremacy at sea, destroyed its commerce and its fleets; but they cut off thereby the source of their own prosperity. They are no longer the sailors nor the carriers of the Ottoman empire, nay, they are scarcely so of even Greece. Not only do the cotton goods of Manchester reach Constantinople by steam, but I saw an English steamer off Patna ready to paddle off with its cargo of currants as soon as the Greek Government had made up its mind as to the price."

The following account of Russian policy in relation to independ- ent Greece is worth quoting, as a proof that the most cunning tyranny overreaches itself in some point

"To our amiable and well-informed German friend chance now added a Greek gentleman. He was of Hydra, a younger son, and had studied medi-

cine. This is the only profession for the young Greek, always excepting

commerce and the place-market. But your young commercial Greek, who goes to Paris, Hamburg, Manchester, or London, gets so disgusted with home

that he stays abroad, and is lost to Greece. The young physician must re- turn, but, unfortunately, not to the practice of a lucrative profession ; his gains never recompensing the outlay of his education. But these medical men, full of information, and polished by travel, are the most intellectual of the Greeks.

"It appears to me that Russia has taken the wrong way to assimilate and elevate the Greeks. If Russia was more liberal,—I mean, its autocratic go- vernment, for constitutional no one could yet expect it to be,—but were it

despotically liberal, admitting of liberal professions, and opening, even as the German monarchs do, its universities and employs to men of the same tongue and creed Russia would attract to it all that is talented and intellectual in Greece. Instead of this, Russian narrowness and routine repudiate, except perhaps in the very highest class of employ, all foreigners, even the Greek and Sclavonian element, as if its purpose was to remain Tartar, instead of being European. The Mephts, the men of the sword and of conquest, look, of course, to Russia; as also do the church, the diplomatists, and the least liberal of professional politicians : but the intellect of the Greek nation, wherever it is developed, or in whatever class, is decidedly anti-Russian,- lees owing to any antagonism of the race, than to the churlish and narrow spirit of the Russian regime. "Our companion, as a Hydriot, of course hated Russia, which on a me- morable occasion lent its navy to Crush the liberal party of the Greek islands. But he was far too intelligent to be biassed into a belief or into a declaration of what was the contrary of truth, by any prejudice whatever. And every evidence corroborated the justice of his answer to ray question, as to which of the protecting powers was most popular in Greece. " The sea-Ports, the maritime and trading population of Greece and its islands, are allEnglish,' he said ; the mountaineers, Klephts, and inlanders, all Russian ; the regal palace at Athens stands alone in its opinions, and re- mains Bavarian and French.' "