ck'd in calm.

J.D.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF FRANK ABNEY HASTINGS.

"Man wrongs and time avenges, and my name
May form a monument not all obscure."

The success of the Greek insurrection against the Turks, is the event
in contemporary history concerning which it is most difficult to form
a precise and correct idea. Causes and effects seem, to the ordinary
observer, to be utterly disproportionate. Its progress set the
calculations of statesmen at defiance; and while congresses,
ambassadors, and protocols, were attempting to fetter it in one
direction, it generally advanced with increased speed in some other,
totally unexpected.

It was very natural that the Greeks should take up arms to emancipate
themselves from Turkish oppression, the moment a favourable
opportunity presented itself; but certainly, few foreigners conceived
that the time they selected afforded them much chance of success.
Kolocotroni, however, appears to have understood the internal
condition of the Ottoman empire rather better than Metternich. The
unwarlike habits of the majority of the Greek population, contrasted
with the military feelings of the Turks, and with the numbers and
valour of the Ottoman armies, rendered their cause desperate for some
years, even in the opinion of their most enthusiastic friends. The
whole progress of the Revolution was filled with anomalous
occurrences; and the wisdom of the statesman, and the skill of the
warrior, were constantly set at nought by events, the causes of which
have still been too generally overlooked by the professional
politicians of all nations who mix in the affairs of Greece.

Unquestionably, therefore, there exists much in the condition of the
Greek nation, and in the character of the people, which has been
completely misunderstood by foreigners. Nor do we entertain any hope
of seeing the affairs of Greece placed on a better footing, until the
Greeks themselves collect and publish detailed information concerning
the statistics and the administration of the kingdom.

Hitherto, not a single report of any value has been published on any
branch of the public service; so that the foreign ministers at Athens
are, from absolute want of materials, compelled to confine their
active exertions for the good of Greece to recommending King Otho to
choose particular individuals, devoted to the English, French, or
Russian party, as the case may be, to the offic