A Consular Agent From The Kingdom
Of Greece Had Lately Hoisted His Flag In The Town, And The Captain
Of The Vessel Drew Up A Remonstrance, Which He Requested His Consul
To Present To The Board.
"Now, IS this reasonable?" said the consul; "is it reasonable that
I should place myself in collision with all
The principal European
gentlemen of the place for the sake of you, a Greek?" The skipper
was greatly vexed at the failure of his application, but he
scarcely even questioned the justice of the ground which his consul
had taken. Well, it happened some time afterwards that I found
myself at the same port, having gone thither with the view of
embarking for the port of Syra. I was anxious, of course, to elude
as carefully as possible the quarantine detentions which threatened
me on my arrival, and hearing that the Greek consul had a brother
who was a man in authority at Syra, I got myself presented to the
former, and took the liberty of asking him to give me such a letter
of introduction to his relative at Syra as might possibly have the
effect of shortening the term of my quarantine. He acceded to this
request with the utmost kindness and courtesy; but when he replied
to my thanks by saying that "in serving an Englishman he was doing
no more than his strict duty commanded," not even my gratitude
could prevent me from calling to mind his treatment of the poor
captain who had the misfortune of NOT being an alien in blood to
his consul and appointed protector.
I think that the change which has taken place in the character of
the Greeks has been occasioned, in great measure, by the doctrines
and practice of their religion. The Greek Church has animated the
Muscovite peasant, and inspired him with hopes and ideas which,
however humble, are still better than none at all; but the faith,
and the forms, and the strange ecclesiastical literature which act
so advantageously upon the mere clay of the Russian serf, seem to
hang like lead upon the ethereal spirit of the Greek. Never in any
part of the world have I seen religious performances so painful to
witness as those of the Greeks. The horror, however, with which
one shudders at their worship is attributable, in some measure, to
the mere effect of costume. In all the Ottoman dominions, and very
frequently too in the kingdom of Otho, the Greeks wear turbans or
other head-dresses, and shave their heads, leaving only a rat's-
tail at the crown of the head; they of course keep themselves
covered within doors as well as abroad, and they never remove their
head-gear merely on account of being in a church; but when the
Greek stops to worship at his proper shrine, then, and then only,
he always uncovers; and as you see him thus with shaven skull and
savage tail depending from his crown, kissing a thing of wood and
glass, and cringing with base prostrations and apparent terror
before a miserable picture, you see superstition in a shape which,
outwardly at least, is sadly abject and repulsive.
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