constitution of society in Greece, rather than
in the characters of individuals.

If no Greek has succeeded in gaining a glorious pre-eminence by the
Revolution, we must recollect that the foreigners who have visited the
country have contrived to bury there all the fame they brought with
them. Singular too as it may appear, a love of quarrelling and a
passion for calumny have been found to be as decidedly characteristic
of the foreigners in Greece, as of the natives. The Philhellenes were
notoriously a most insubordinate body; the English in Greece have
never been able to live together in amity and concord; the three
European powers who signed a treaty to aid and protect Greece, have
rarely been able to agree on the means of carrying their good
intentions into execution on a systematic plan. The Regency sent to
civilize the country during King Otho's minority, though consisting of
only three members, set the Greeks an example of what the Litany calls
"blindness of heart, pride, vain-glory, and hypocrisy, envy, hatred,
and malice, and all uncharitableness." The _corps diplomatique_ has
often astounded the Greeks by its feuds and dissensions. The Bavarians
made their sojourn in the country one prolonged _querelle
d'Allemande._ Even the American missionaries at Athens have not
escaped severe attacks of the universal epidemic, and during the
paroxysms of the malady have made all Greece spectators of their
quarrels.[10]

The single exception which so often occurs to confirm the general
ruler, exists in this case as in so many others. One European officer
rendered very important services to Greece, and so conducted himself
as to acquire the respect and esteem of every party in that singularly
factious land. This officer was Frank Abney Hastings; but he always
made it his rule of life to act, amidst the license and anarchy of
society in Greece, precisely as he would have felt himself called upon
to act in similar circumstances, could they have occurred, in England.
We shall now attempt to erect a humble monument to his memory. The
pages of Maga have frequently rescued much that is good from the
shadow of oblivion; and, in this instance, we hope that a short
account of the actions of the best of the Philhellenes will not only
do honour to his memory, but will likewise throw some new light on the
history of the Greek Revolution.

Frank Abney Hastings was the younger son of the late
Lieutenant-general Sir Charles Hastings, Ba