more peaceful direction. Whatever progress Greece has made in political and social civilization under the government of King Otho, must be attributed to the efforts of the people, striving on the one hand to push forward their listless rulers, and on the other to elude the efforts of the European powers to retard their advance. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, if we find the progress of Greece in the career of improvement to be rather eccentric. While towns are rebuilt; while commerce and trade are advancing; while the press is free, and the number of publications daily increasing; while one class, in short, is occupied with trade, commerce, art, and literature, another remains scattered over the greater part of the kingdom, pursuing the labors of agriculture in poverty and ignorance. While the towns of Athens, Syra, Nauplia, and Patras equal any towns of their size in Europe, in social culture, the rural population in their immediate vicinity continues in the most primitive condition. This superiority in the social position of the inhabitants of the towns must be attributed to the influence which public opinion acquires wherever free institutions exist with any density of population, and to the freedom with which knowledge is allowed to circulate. In Greece, not only is the press perfectly free, but even the importation of books, whether in the Greek or any other language, is not subjected to the smallest duty. Education in the towns is therefore more common than either in the south of France, in Spain, Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, or Malta; and books of sterling value are much more common. The booksellers' shops of Athens may be compared with those of Malta, Corfu, and Gibraltar, with great advantage to the Greeks. Wherever the population is sufficiently compressed to enable it to enjoy the advantages of a rapid communication of ideas, there knowledge has produced unity of action. In the country, on the other hand, the extreme thinness of the agricultural population, and the great physical difficulties in the way of frequent intercommunication, have left the inhabitants of extensive districts in

*Some information on the state of education in Greece, previous to the revolution in 1843, will be found in an article by Monsieur Ampère, of the Académie Française, which appeared in the Revue des deux Mondes, 1er Avril, 1843: "De l'instruction publique et du mouvement intellectuel en Grèce." At present there are two French and sixteen Greek newspapers published in the kingdom. Since 1843, about sixty-three octavo volumes have been printed at Athens alone, on scientific, historical, moral, and religious subjects, besides a much greater number of political pamphlets. There are also presses at Syra, Nauplia, and Patras.

Greece deprived of all the advantages of moral and political culture, as well as of elementary education. To place the independence of Greece on a solid basis, the first step must be to improve the condition of the agricultural classes.

To do this effectually, the assistance of the government is indispensable. The legislature must commence by prohibiting the farming of the tithes, and by repealing all the revenue laws which render the government, in virtue of its claim for one tenth as a tax, the virtual masters of the whole crop. If agriculture is ever to improve in Greece, it cannot be until the cultivator obtains the absolute disposal of all his agricultural arrangements. What can farmers do in the way of improvement, who are compelled to ask permission to commence the harvest and to house the crop? It is true, that Mr. Colletti made an attempt lately to put an end to the system of farming the tithes. The English party, however, succeeded in throwing out his bill, in the expectation of compelling him to resign. Colletti, however, aware of the popularity of his measure, ventured to dissolve the chamber, though the budget had not been passed; and so well had he estimated the popular indignation at the conduct of the opposition, that not one of the members who had sacrificed the advantage of their country to party and diplomatic intrigue succeeded in being reëlected.

Our space will not allow us to enter into any statistical details concerning Greece, for such details must be extremely minute in order to reveal the strange varieties of civilization and the strong social contrasts that exist in the different classes of the population. As there can be no doubt, however, that the future fate of the Greeks as a nation will depend more on their own personal exertions and individual qualities than on the combinations of the feeble monarchy now existing,-it is of some importance to notice the actual state of education. The general field of religious and moral culture demands a far more extensive and searching investigation than we can bestow. We shall therefore confine our observations to the University of Athens, which has become the living fountain of knowledge to the whole Greek race.

For statistical information we must refer to "Greece as a kingdom, or a statistical description of that country, drawn up from official documents and other authentic sources, by Frederic Strong, Esq., consul at Athens, for their majesties the kings of Bavaria and Hanover. London. 1842. 8vo. This work is unfortunately very imperfect, but the chapters on religion and education may be consulted with profit.

Mr. Maurer was engaged in preparing the charter of the University when he was recalled. Count Armansperg, in his terror of every thing which was really liberal, proposed abandoning the project entertained by Mr. Maurer, and wished to establish four separate schools, namely: of Theology, Law, Medicine, and Philosophy. The difficulty he met with in this illiberal project caused him to delay the establishment of the university until he was aware that his recall had been decided

on.

He then prepared in haste a confused and imperfect organization for the university, at the commencement of January, 1837. By the exertions of Mr. Brandis, the accomplished professor at Bonn, this organization underwent considerable improvement, and the university was at last established, on the 15th of May, 1837.*

Though the government had been compelled to yield to public opinion so far as to found the university, it still met with many obstacles in its progress. Ample funds had been appropriated for establishing orders of knighthood and other useless concomitants of royal pageantry; an immense palace had been erected to lodge King Otho, but not one cent could be found to construct a building to enable the professors to lecture, or to render the national library available to the public. The teachers were often silent for want of lecture rooms; for Athens then hardly possessed houses sufficient for its inhabitants. The books sent as donations to Greece for the use of the studious, were left to rot, piled volume upon volume, in damp and dilapidated churches. The people now came forward to perform the duties neglected by their rulers; party feelings were laid aside, and in spite of court and diplomatic intrigues and personal antipathies, a public meeting was held at Athens. The Capodistrian party was allowed to take the lead, and it was resolved to raise the sum necessary for erecting an university and public library by private subscriptions. The contributions of the Greeks over all Europe were most liberal. Large sums were sent from London, Vienna, and Hungary, and in a very short time the subscriptions amounted to forty thousand dollars. A handsome building has now been erected. number of the professors, ordinary and extraordinary, amounts at present to thirty-four, all of whom deliver lectures, though many of them receive only very trifling salaries, from the cir

The

*See a pamphlet published at Athens, entitled, Пepì Пavεwiornμúwv ¿v yével καὶ ἰδιαιτέρως περὶ τοῦ Ὀθωνείου Πανεπιστημίου, ἐν Αθήναις, 1845, — p. 26.

cumstance of their holding government appointments connected with the subjects on which they deliver their instructions. The professorships are distributed as follows: Theology, three; Law, nine; Medicine, ten; Philosophy, twelve. The number of students amounts to nearly three hundred, and of these about one hundred and fifty are Greeks from the Turkish dominions and the transdanubian principalities, who repair to Athens to complete their studies. This fact alone is sufficient to prove the immense influence this institution cannot fail to exercise over the ultimate fate of the Ottoman empire.

It must be observed, that besides the Theological faculty at the university, there is a college for priests, founded by a legacy of two brothers named Rizaris. This college has five teachers, (of whom only one is a professor at the university,) and about twenty-five students. The library of the university consists of nearly forty thousand volumes, but its value does not correspond with its extent. As it has been composed almost entirely of donations, every department is extremely imperfect. The kings of Naples and Prussia, and the French government, have been the most liberal foreign benefactors, and they have contributed many valuable works. A very valuable collection of the earliest Greek books, in which we believe every editio princeps of the Greek classics will be found, and every edition containing the best text, was purchased by the Greek government from Mr. Postolaka, a Greek who had spent many years at Vienna in forming this inestimable portion of a public library at Athens. The library contains also a few Sanscrit manuscripts and Greek translations from the Sanscrit, left to the university by an Athenian named Galanos, who died in India, where he resided many years and devoted much time to the study of Sanscrit literature. Some of his translations have been lately printed at Athens, edited by Messrs. Typaldos and Apostolides, the librarians of the university.*

*It may be interesting to our readers to see a list of the subjects on which the professors of the Athenian university lecture. Of course they vary a little in the different semesters.

THEOLOGY.-Dogmatic Theology. Ecclesiastical History. Hebrew and Sacred History.

LAW.-Roman Law. Common Law of Greece. French Civil Code. Commercial Jurisprudence. Law of Nations. History of Roman Law. Philosophy of Judicial Institutions.

MEDICINE.-Pathology and Therapeutics. Anatomy. Surgery. Midwifery. Nosology. Ophthalmy. Practice of Medicine. Forensic Medicine. Pharmacy. Physiology.

PHILOSOPHY.-Greek Philology. Latin Philology.

Archæology. His

The future prospects of the Greek nation cannot certainly be considered as destitute of hope, when the people display so much energy, and direct that energy with so much judgment. Still we must not be too sanguine in our expectations. As long as the agricultural classes remain in a stationary condition as to intelligence, wealth, and numbers, the national civilization rests on an uncertain and adventitious basis. The civilization of Greece rests on the democratic power existing in the state; this power excites great jealousy in all the European governments connected with the Levant, and its development is not regulated by an enlightened internal administration. The task of introducing moral discipline into Greek society, and of raising the rude peasantry to the position of orderly and intelligent landed proprietors, is one of no ordinary difficulty. To do this, in the face of an active enemy like Great Britain, and with a feeble ally like France, demands a larger fund of patriotism than is possessed either by Mavrocordato or Colletti. Indeed, unless Greece can be released from the thraldom of the three powers, she can only hope for a permanent improvement of her political condition. by some great convulsion in the East.

We own, however, that we are not entirely without hopes that the protecting powers will be induced, by the strength of public opinion in the enlightened portion of European society, to commence repairing some of the injuries they have committed since 1832. France and Russia have almost come to the conclusion, that the loan of sixty millions ought to be regarded as a bad debt; and even Great Britain, in exacting payment of her share, had the frankness to declare, that the British government took the severe step of compelling the Greeks to pay annually the sum of £46,000, as interest and sinking fund of a loan they had not been allowed to spend, "to prevent the administration of Mr. Colletti from carrying on a system of peculation and corruption." Yet it is impossible not to observe, that if any circumstance should induce France and Russia to adopt the policy of England, then the darling object of the anonymous correspondent of the Morning

tory. Statistics. Natural History. Metaphysics. Physics. Experimental Philosophy. Mathematics. Chemistry. Botany. Political Economy.

*See an excellent speech of Lord Palmerston, on Greek affairs, in the British Parliament, on the 3rd of May, 1847. It is to be regretted that the conduct of the British government at Athens does not correspond with its language at London.