they would support the Bavarian system, and declare that
their country was not yet fit for the enjoyment of constitutional liberty.
The partizans of Mr Maurer were dismissed and sent back to Bavaria: a few
good bribes were given to newspaper editors and noisy democrats; but the
Bavarians were kept in the possession of the richest part of the spoil.
Accordingly, the cry of the Greeks against Bavarian influence and Bavarian
rapacity never ceased. Rudhart's government was a continuation of that of
Armansperg, only with the difference that he leaned on a different foreign
power for support. Neither Armansperg nor Rudhart conferred any benefit on
Greece. They formed a phalanx or corps of veterans; but as they laid down
no invariable rules for admission, but kept the door open as a means of
creating a party among the military, this institution has become a scene
of jobbing and abuse.

A law conferring a portion of land on every Greek family was passed; but
as it was intended to serve political purposes, it was never put into
general execution. A number of sales of national lands has been made under
it, in direct violation of every principle of law and justice; and as
detached pieces of the richest plains in Greece have been alienated in
this way, the resources of the country will be found to have been very
seriously diminished by this singular species of wholesale corruption.

Rudhart was compelled from his weakness to make one or two steps in the
national path. He assembled the council of state, and called the
provincial councils and the university into activity.

We have now arrived at the period when King Otho assumed the reins of
government. From the year 1838 to the present day, he has been his own
irresponsible prime minister; for the apparent ministers Zographos,
Paikos, Maurocordatos and Rizos, have never enjoyed his unlimited
confidence, nor have they been viewed with much favour by the people.
Indeed, with the exception of Maurocordatos, they are men of inferior
ability, and of no character or standing in the country. Any one who will
take the trouble to read those portions of their diplomatic correspondence
with the ministers of the allied powers at Athens, which have been
published, will be convinced of their utter unfitness for the offices they
have held. Let the reader contrast these precious specimens of inaccuracy
and rigmarole, with the come-to-the-truth style of our own minister, or
the sarcastic, let-us-go