THE ROYAL GREEKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2253, 6 May 1897, Page 21

THE ROYAL GREEKS.

Three-and-thirfcy yeara ago a picturesque scene was enacted in the Danish capital. A deputation of Greeks— we ought to call them Hellenes, bub we do not — a deputation of Greeks demanded an audience of Frederick VII, the old King of Denmark, and asked leave to offer their country's orown to his greatnephew, George of Schles'wig-Ho] stein. For reply the monarch turned to the handsome stripling who stood expectant by and bade him take his place beside him on the dais, saluting him as his brother Sovereign. Four months passed, and fche youth of 17 wa» proclaimed King nt Athens, England, France, and Russia beirjg his pponsors. Boy in years (hough he mighn be, the impatient Greeks asserted he was nan enough for them, mnd before tha end of the month they declared him of «ge, fiualh placing the reins of government in his hands ov, the last day of Octobsr, 1863. Fourteen daj.s more were then told off, and the aged Fredoriok died, leaving his own throne free for King Christian, father of fche new Greek king, thi> forming, perhaps, the solitary instance oi v, son being an older (Sovereign than his parent. Having watched him carefully through fcl first four years of his reign, Russia, by h clevi stroke ot policy, which caused (tome <tir at tlrtime, secured the young monarch's hand foi*one of her Grand-Dachcssos, OJga Coi;sfc»E:snovna, her family considering fchab fche Imperial bride's valuo was greatly increased by the faci that she was only 15 years of age afc the time of her marriage. King George, who did everything early in life, bocame a father when ho \yi only 22, and within 11 months his little brid had presented him with a aeoond son, th« lUAjtnificenfc young gifcnfc George, hero of fcheprei>ei.fc hour. Tha gift of a series of stalwart prince was hailed with as much satisfaction as the lonir.u Islands, that other present 'vhich fche prices from fche north bestowed upon his now aubject'.. Their king was a. Lnbheran, a, foreigner, and r,f ' skilled in their nuitvo fcongus; but hi* boys wei« horn on the noil, and there was a promise that, not only Rbould they be orthodox, bub Shaft Mt« rkafc lisping of thtir baby mouths should be Greek. In consideration of this, as time passed, they alrooab — never quite — consented to forgivo their sovereign for being *i itr&nger. Tbey have demanded fch^the should abdicate in favour of bi-s Ron a score of times in as jrmnj yews, it is true ; atill, when ho replied that he would do no wirh pleasure, but th&fc it would be to sha detriment of all concerned, they have gone homo in ptmce, consenting to put up for «, Httlo ionger with fchn iaau who has increased the area of tbwiccsunfcry by one-third, and won for them a leading place among the secondary, Powers of Europe. Should the kins; r.b'i'icate — and by what o!;aef raeans is hie Majesty to hsua from the impasse in which he has found himself ? — hi>s suoc«r«or •»°ouM of course be the Duke "i Kparta, lacve commonly known m Athena as Prince Oenstantinos. Many people, nob perhaps excluding the Crown Prince himsalf, would prefer fche Afchleticos Pciakycs, George ; however, eveu Greece, who passes her day 3 in doing straDga things, would hardly veuture on such mi innovation as fcbat. Moreover, you canKofc be both Nelson and a king, and Sailor George means J •» ba Nelson, Sad a Napoleon where he may. In alluding to a preference for th* younger brother, ifc is by no means insinuated that the Crown Prince is unpopular. Ha in admired, liked, and respected, aa he well deserves, buh he ia somewhat silent ami retiring and at time? betrays a nervous anxiety to ignore tho snout under fche palaca walls which tells him the belief, for tho momonfc, of the populace ia that he, the Greek-born, won! i make as good a king as his father, and better.

The QuefiD, though ahe left Petersburg at 15, iv a Russian still, and a Russian will brave even the frown of the head, of her house, and to say feaaw is to say much, rather than resign a dream of empire. * For her- fche capital of Hellaa is Ehzantium, and fnr consort or foi son sbe will be content with no lesi than snJEmperor'a throne. Remains the Ctowi Princess Sophia, born of Hohenzollern. She i . a soldier and an ambitious woman, and just a trifle jealous of that splendid brother-in-law whom her husband allows always to be bracketed equal with himself, instead of giving him k. younger brother's tigtitfal place in fche background. Another influence with her is fchab or her own Imperial brother iv the north, who rated her as if she were a naughty child when she adopted her husband's faith. That he should side with the Ottoman against her adopted people, suffices to induce the Princes* to throw all her influence into the opposite scale. These are the Royal Greeks who now hold the fate of nations in their hands. — Pall Mall Gazette.

Volo, which hM been occupied by the Turks without opposition, is one of the chief towns of Thetsally, and was till within the last 15 or 16 years, part of Turkish territory, and its ancient portions still bear evident traces of ifcs former master?, who are now only represented by & small poverty-stricken colony, situated in the vicinity of the railway station, and a few wealthier Turks inland. Here, in » collection of miserable but picturesque hovels, they eke out a wretched livelihood by working at primitive forges or such rough leather work as they are capable of executing ; they also perform most of fche portage work in connection with the shipping. The new town may be described, but with some exaggeration, as a town of length without breadth, for if an attempt is made to explore ifc in a direction of right angles to its long, straight streets the explorer qnickly finds himself" in the broad olive grove that serges upwards towards Mount Pelion with its green lower slopes dotted with clinging villages thafc shine in fche sunlight like fche ripple-bathed pebbles on the sea-shore. Continuing fco follow one of fche many paths leading upwards, whosa gradients become unoomfortably pronouncsd, the wanderer towards * Pelion village enters upon a region that is typical of this portion of the country-side — a region of small detached cottages of one or two storeys according to fcha means of fche occupier, surrounded by lifctla orchards, blushing with all the colours of tha many fruit trees that flourish bo luxuriantly in this part. Here the pomegranate's crimsMk

•~ — ■■■ - „ -riii fruit; gapes wide with frnifcfal seed ; here the graps hangs in clusters beneath the purple fig. A correspondent, writing to a London newspaper concerning the Greek race, says :— " Those who advocate the Greek oause frequently display an unaccountable confusion of ideas on history and geography. It is strange to hear men of general information confounding the ancient Greeks — the Greeks of Athens and Sparta — with the mixed races which make up the lower Greek Kingdom. It is surprising to hear gentlemen rising in the House of Commons and elsewhere, and urging the restoration of the Hellenic Empire, with eloquent descriptions of the, academies and battleBelds of classic Greece. I will not enter into the ethnological questions connected with fche present Greek race, but it cannot be unknown to your readers'Sihat, in the opinion of some of the most trustworthy authorities, not a drop of real Greek blood is to be found ia the Morea or Pelcpnesus. In the/islauds of the Egtean, which were net bo completely overrun by the Ulyrian, Sclavonic, and Italian races, descendants of the primitive Greeks may still' be found. It is not impossible that the Greek . communities on the coasts of Asia Minor may , afford the best specimens of true Greek I descent, No intellgenfc traveller c*a have failed to notice the striking difference in personal appearance between the popula'ion of the. Kingdom of Greece proper and that { of the islands and ancient lonia. In the one i case we find a stunted, ill-featured, ill-favoured j race, with many of the physical cbaraefcer'siics of the lowest Slav tribes — beauty, whether of J form or feature, being almost unknown even j amongst the woiaen. Nowhere is this fact more j strikingly brooght to one's notice than at j Athens. The constant intermixture with Illy- ! rians and Slavs, and with those European j peoples which have at various periods held j the More*, has produced this result. ; Scch, however, is not the caae in some j of the islands of the Archipelago. Tinos, ' Naxos, Samos, and other favoured spots in Egssan still furnish types of that J glorious race which gave models to Phidias j , and Praxiteles. In the men there may still be seen beauty of form and the most ample development of tbe muscles and limbs — tserftcb \ symmetry united with manly strength. In the i women, the straight brow and nose, the delicately formed mouth and chin, the smooth and rounded neck, losing itself in the flowing curve of the shoulders, and bearing, like a pedestal of Parian marble, the exquisitely i shaped head, the graceful carriage, nod the i well-proportioned limbs. As the idler in the Christian quarter of Smyrna passes on [ a summer day tbe spacious doorways opening on the shady nourfcyards, he may spy, seated beneath the trees, female forms such as these ; or, if he should seek the fountain of a Greek I village on the shores of Asia Minor when, as the sun goes down, the women hasten to fill their pitchers at the crystal spring, he will see maidens of whom ancient Hellas might have been proud. But the Greek, as conventionally j known and believed in by a large section of the j British public, falls immeasurably bslow these I ideals."