LITERARY SPECTATOR.

FRENCH ACCOUNT OF THE ENGLISH DOINGS IN GREECE.

COLONEL jOURDAIN, on his return from Greece, where he has taken an active part in the affairs of that country from the.com

mencement of the Revolution, has just published a narrative of the events which took place under his own eye.* His story does not differ materially from that of a great many persons who have preceded him in the details of their experience, except that those writers from whom information concerning Greece have been derived have been chiefly English, and have viewed the transactions before them with English eyes. M. JOITRDAIN is a most decided Frenchman ; consequently, he looks upon Greece almost always with reference to France, and never speaks of the English but to denounce their interference. The machinations of the English faction are indeed the grand subject of his discourse ; and the arch

Macchiavelli, the secret spring of them all, is no other than Captain II AMILTON, the just and honourable commander of the Cambria, who for six years on the coast of Greece directed our naval operations on that station, and who, by his upright conduct, impartiality, and intelligence, secured the respect and attachment of all parties. The other arch machinator in the interests of England is Prince MavitocortnATO ; who is certainly svell known as a more active wielder of the pen than the sword, but who, we believe, never preferred one faction to another except when it served his own views. To do him justice, we believe that his views have always been those which he deemed beneficial to Greece: if, however, he was not able to bring his countrymen to agree to them by one set of means, he was not a man to hesitate at employing any other. We believe that on the whole AIAVROCORDATO has looked to England for aid in the settlement of Greece, sometimes however to Russia : his fault was, that not being either by character or power the natural leader of the Greeks, he determined to retain the posts by foreign means, which he endeavoured to secure by all kinds of diplomatic trickery. For " la politique astucieuse " no head is so aptly organized as that of a Greek, and of all Greeks a Fanariote Greek by blood, by education and habit, is the prince of intriguers. A Frenchman's fault is to see intrigue everywhere, and to expect stratagem in the simplest occupation : in Greece, accordingly, he would be well matched : the cunning Greek would always be weaving a plot for the cunning Frenchman to detect. M. JOURDAIN, unluckily, not only attributes far too much importance to these intrigues, but he connects with them the English in every direction—the English volunteers, the English moneylenders, the English Committee, the English Government ; parties who, whatever might be their faults in other respects, never dreamed by underhand means of laying hold of the territory of Greece. England is not only charged with a devouring desire to increase her possessions in every quarter, but she is charged by this Frenchman with plotting and contriving to encompass her point in the most inconsistent manner. With the design of appropriating Greece, it seems, was mixed up that of protecting our Indian possessions. Anglo-India has always been a stumblingblock in France, and it seems they can still talk as much nonsense respecting it as in the time of NAPOLEON.

The perpetual mistake of the French, in speakine. of English policy, is to attribute a depth and intricacy to our designs, which, to. those who know the principle of straight-forward carelessness characteristic of the counhy, is truly ridiculous. Colonel JOURDAIN accuses the British Government of supporting Greece on the one hand with its " guin6es," and on the other of advising the Grand Signor to make over the Morea to the Pacha of EeTpt, that he might be induced to make an expedition against it. The object of this scheme is alleged to be the enfeebling of the Egyptian power, and the prevention of the Pacha's independence, which it is said would give a mortal blow to the commerce of England with India.

" England," says the Frenchman, "saw clearly that Egypt, when partaking of the general interests of Europe, would open anew the commerce of India, by the route the most ancient, the most natural, and the most direct—the Red Sea and the Isthmus of Suez. To destroy the independence both of Greece and of Egypt, England laboured at forming a party in the Morea by the influence of Captain HAMILTON, while at the same time it endeavoured to bring about the Egyptian Expedition. It was to expose this double intrigue to IBRAHIM, as well as to inform him of his true interests, that I wrote to him the following letter which was inserted in all the Greek Journals."

, Are we to attribute this to the ignorance and bigotry of a particular individual, or to consider the sentiments of Colonel JOURDAIN as but a fair specimen of the absurd way in which Frenchmen have so long and so obstinately thought of England? The complicated policy thus attributed to England being precisely adapted to the genius of the Greek character, their own finesse, and their own beloved crookedness of purpose, would induce them to lend a ready ear to charges that could only proceed from brains like their own. The publication of the letter, stating the charges we have noticed, is accordingly said to have produced a striking effect upon the na tion, and even upon the Greek Government.

The usual contents of a work on Greece are, descriptions of dis _

orderly policari—of leisurely and cowardly sieges — of squalid meetings of soi-di slant senators, surrounded by chiefs armed to the teeth, waiting for an opportunity of plunder under pretence of obeying the orders of Government—of clumsy naval engagements between Turkish frigates and Greek fire-ships—of piratical expeditions, and the quarrels that ensue either in dividing or surrendering the plunder. These subjects occur as a matter of course in the pages of Colonel JOURDAIN ; but we must say, that our English painters of manners possess pencils of far greater animation : the works of WADDINGTON, EMERSON, BLAQUIERE, and others that might be mentioned, give a far more brilliant idea of the same events than the pages of JOURDAIN. The French are, indeed unfortunate on the subject of Greece : their coryphwus is PououEvILLII, whose rhodomontade has become proverbial ; and we do not think that the present author will redem the credit of his country. By way of example, we will quote a short account of the conduct of Captain HAMILTON, on an occasion of difficulty. The circumstance took place a few months before the battle of Navarino, and arose out of his determination to put a stop, as far as he could, to the shameful system of piracy which had arisen out of the Greek war. They who know the Greeks as Captain HAMILTON does, are well aware that nothing but firmness and a resolution not to be trifled with will avail against Greek chicanery.

" On the 19th April, in the night, a vessel belonging to the Conduriottis, under the command of Jakas, which had been sent on a cruise without papers, returned to Hydra. It had plundered some Ionian vessels to the amount of from twelve to fifteen thousand piastres (about £300).

" On the 21st, Captain Hamilton, who had left a few days before, also arrived with a reinforcement of a frigate. About noon, the primates, the deputation of the people, and that of the Capitani, went on board [to consult him concerning their differences]. A little time after, his own frigate, a corvette, and a brig, passed before the harbour within musketshot. He then sent a pilot ashore, with two letters addressed to the Hydriotes : by the first, he required that Captain Jakas should be given up, his vessel, and the merchandise that had been plundered from the Ionian boats; in the second, he directed that the vessel of the Admiral Miaoulis should be despatched to Paros. A verbal answer was given, that the chiefs being on board Captain Hamilton's ship, nothing could be done till their return.

"About three o'clock in the afternoon, the primates and the deputations returned to Hydra. They announced to the people that Captain Hamilton would not meddle with their affairs until they had satisfied his demand ;that he pardone4). Jakas, hut that he insisted upon their bringing to him, before night, the vessel and the merchandise ; and in case they did not, that he would fire upon the town.

"The party were persuaded lo give up their plunder, but they were not to be induced to surrender their vessel.

"In the evening, a letter was written to Captain Hamilton, saying, that in the course of the next morning he should receive the merchandise, and praying that he would desist from his demand of the vessel itself. The Commissary of Police was charged with the delivery of the letter. The Captain said, among other things, to this functionary, that he wished a guarantee to be given to him for the illegal prizes that had been seized, because, as the Greek Government was on the point of changing, he should not any longer have the same influence where the French faction was expected to prevail.

"The crew of Jakas having already shared their plunder, all the morning of the 22d was consumed in collecting it together in a warehouse. During this time, the Captain wrote again, that unless the vessel was sent before mid-day, as well as the merchandise, he should he forced to take measures w hich the hishwians of Greece mid Englund would retrace with iutin.

"At two o'clock p m. he informed the I tydriotes, that all the crews of his division would proceed to take possession of Jakas's vessel ; and that, if resistance was made, he would employ force. There was a postscript added to the letter in another hand-writing, which announced that the rest of the primates were no longer on board, although they really were. In effect, a few hours afterwards this step was taken.

"There were about a dozen men on board of Jakas's vessel. An English boat approached it. The sailors attempted to prevent the Englishmen from hoarding; one of them had the impudence to lire a pistol, and then the attack commenced All the crews kept up a pretty smart tire, which the inhabitants did not seek to answer. The whole town was in a state of despair. The women believing that the English were about to carry every. thine,-' with fire and sword, took to flight with their infants, bewailing therhusbands, whom they believed already massacred. The Corvette fired a couple of guns, a ball from one of which struck one of the houses belonging to the Capitano Mathendi, adjoining that of the Primate Bulgari : that of the other was lost in an old wall. Georges Politi, one of the brave captains of the fire-ships, and another Hydrie, were slain near us. I ought to say, in justice to Captain Hamilton, that he arrived with all speed in his boat, to put a stop to the firing.

In this unhappy affair, of which the English took all the trouble with the exception of a pistol-shot from Jakas's vessel, four persons were killed and ten wounded, amongst which were some severely.

I know not whether it was chance alone, [he means it was delign], but the great portion of the shots were directed against the houses of the primates who had stayed at Hydra (and had not gone to Hamilton to settle the differences between themselves and the people.) The house of M. Buigari was riddled with bails, one of which hit the thigh of his female servant.

Before night, the English seized upon all the vessels, those of war as well as those of merchandise, which happened to be in the fort, and cutting their cables, departed with their prey.

The same day, the deputation of the people prayed the Archbishop to invite the forty parishes each to name two deputies to form a new local government.

In the evening, Captain Hamilton sent to demand the rudder and sails of Jakas's vessel : they were carried to him, as well as a part of the merchandise. He charged the patrons of the Calques to prevail upon the Hydriots to forget what had passed, and to send the primate and the deputations, to continue the negotiations on the subject of their local differences."

Soon after this, the rest of the plundered merchandise was restored: Captain IT amiLroar returned all the vessels, except those of JAKAS and Mi AouLis ; and the day after, the primates and delegates went on board his ship to deliberate. Thus ended this small, but characteristic affair.