“THE IMPIOUS ENGLISH.”
When Lord Palmerston sent a fleet to the Piraeus last year to give Russia a hint at the expense of the Greeks who had offended him, the latter, forgetting how much they were indebted to Mr. Canning for their independence, denounced his countrymen in unmeasured terms. One of their poets, named Alexander Soutzo, wrote an article in the Siecle, entitled “The Impious English.”
“See (says he) these ravishers, these Carthaginians, who have seized the ships of Greece. The froth of their crime can be seen floating on the sea; but, whilst a single Greek exists, he will hand down to his posterity a relation of this disastrous epoch. Courage, my friends, courage! There is a God in heaven, and the earth has not given up to the tyranny of Great Britain, like the sea. Diplomacy at Athens and at Constantinople is generously working in our favour. Already are steamers ploughing the waves, and carrying to other Courts the news of this crime of England. Behold the Emperor Nicholas raising masses of men to crush the Ottoman. Citizens of free Greece, prepare yourselves. The English compel us to become another Alexander, to cut this Gordian knot—this important eastern question. Let us recommence the war, and the nation become an entire army! Let us, under the auspices of France, Austria, and Germany, restore the empire of the great Constantine, and thus be in possession of Western Greece from the Eurotas to Istra, and of Eastern Greece from the Nile to the Euxine, with three capitals—Athens, the seat of learning; Constantinople, the seat of government; and Jerusalem, the seat of religion.
The Greeks look to Nicholas as their chief. He is indeed the Pope of their church; and is destined to overshadow his Latin Holiness of Rome. The Russian autocrat will be emperor of the Greeks in fact, as he is by community of faith, even now, when the time comes. Then, when the Lord hath bent Judah for him as his bow, and filled it with Ephraim as his arrow,
“He will raise up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and make thee as the sword of a mighty man. And he will be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning”—Zechariah 9: 13-14.
But before this comes to pass, the presentment in the mind of Soutzo and his friends, will have been realised; “the empire of the great Constantine” will have reappeared under a Russo-Assyrian head, whose superstition will have overtopped those of Mahomet and the Virgin; and Jerusalem have become for a brief space the seat of the religion of the Greeks—Zechariah 14: 2. But before this Hellenising of the Holy City by the Assyrian shall be accomplished, “the impious English,” the divinely appointed protectors of Zion’s sons until the Ancient of Days shall come—Isaiah 18: 2, will make thy land, O Greece, tremble in every haven where her flag shall flutter in the breeze—Daniel 11: 44.
The following clip will afford some idea of the working of things in the Mediterranean. Jerusalem has become again an object of superstitious interest to the Gentiles, both Greek, Latin, and Protestant. This is necessary as the precursor to the solution of the “important eastern question,” which Soutzo says is a knot that must be cut, but cannot be untied. Russia, Austria, France, England, and Prussia, have all their consuls, priests, bishops, and missionaries there, to watch each other, and to promote their individual ambitions. The Russo-Greek interest, however, will eventually prevail; though there will be much hard fighting, and terrible bloody wars by sea and land before “the Holy Sepulchre” will fall exclusively to the Greeks. The following is a recent notice of
THE FRENCH CLAIM OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.
The Constantinople correspondent of the Morning Herald, in a letter of the 5th instant, writes as follows: —“The French ambassador, M. La Valette, has not yet had the good fortune to settle his knotty dispute with the Sublime Porte respecting the Jerusalem claim on terms accordant with the national and personal influence he boasts of enjoying in the Levant. It does not require a conjuror to explain the reason of this defeat. The French claim the Holy Sepulchre as their property, forcibly occupied by the Greeks and other Christian population of the Porte, and produce documents by which they endeavour to impress the validity of their proceedings. Indeed, it is stated that the Sultan has ordered the minister of foreign affairs to cease all negotiations on the above question. By her way of managing matters in the Levant, France can have little influence; and yet it is great on account of her language, which is studied, and her literature, which, of all European learning, is alone known here. An attempt was once made to introduce English in the Levant, but as it would have been a work of time, our government crushed it at once, and patronised French instead. In every principal port French schools, and excellent ones, too, are established; whereas not an English school exists, and the English youth are, per force, educated as Frenchmen. There are abundance of English children growing up here who cannot properly pronounce their names, and, as in duty bound they are every Sunday taken to an English church without understanding a word of either service or sermon. Now the French have attended to this: they have established charity schools, have sent out Jesuits to conduct them, and have made hundreds of converts to their religion; and have now, aware of their influence, advanced far enough to claim the very Holy Land itself, which, for centuries past, has been the exclusive possession of the Osmanlis. It is time that the English government should attend to this important matter, for the English, between old residents, engineers, workmen, and employers, are now becoming exceedingly numerous in Constantinople, and there are very few parents who have the means of sending their children to England for education on account of the enormous expense. You must not, therefore, be surprised if many of our young folks become French and catholics from mere neglect.”
The real ground of the late difficulty between the governments of Britain and Greece was not manifested to the uninitiated. The difficulty appeared to be about the payment of a few thousand dollars due to Messrs. Pacifico & Finlay, two British subjects residing in Greece; and some assault and battery upon certain Ionians in the military service of England. These mighty grievances were of many years standing, and might have stood unaccommodated to this hour but for a new instance of the maritime ambition of Russia, which happened to come to Lord Palmerston’s ears. The Autocrat was intriguing with the king of Greece for the possession of a certain island in the Mediterranean which he coveted for a naval station. He had negotiated with Austria for Cattaro in the Adriatic, but had been foiled, as he will ever be by Britain in every step taken with a view to maritime competition with her in the Levant. Having received information of the intrigue, Lord Palmerston immediately demanded redress of grievances, and payment of debts. This was only a blind, under covert of which he laid claim to the islands of Cervi and Sapienza in the name of the Ionian Republic under the protectorate of Britain. The territorial, and not the money, question was the real one. England’s policy is to keep Russia out of the Mediterranean, to uphold Turkey, and to befriend the Jews. These things become more and more necessary every year to make British interests safe in India and the East. England’s policy is therefore defensive; and as Russia seeks extension in that direction, it is aggressive; and consequently the two powers occupy the relation of “natural enemies” as the phrase is. In the late dispute with Greece, Russia cared nothing about the pecuniary aspect of the question; but was remarkably sensitive on the question of the islands, which she would not consent to be settled independently of her; as appears from the following note of Nesselrode to the Russian ambassador in London: —
COPYOF A DISPATCH FROM COUNT NESSELRODE TO BARON BRUNNOW.
St. Petersburgh, 8-20th February, 1850.
Monsieur le Baron, —Almost at the very moment when we were addressing to you our dispatches of the 7-19th of this month, we learnt by your report (No. 17) that Lord Palmerston, relaxing those extreme measures which he has adopted against the Hellenic government, had consented to suspend them on accepting in this difference the mediation of France.
As in our eyes the interest of the Greeks is superior to every other personal consideration, we will not insist upon the want of courtesy of which we have felt ourselves called upon to complain; and our intention is not to ask to enter, after the negotiation has begun, into a mediation already commenced, and which, perhaps, at the time we are writing, may have borne, as we hope, fruits profitable to Greece. If the good offices of France can act efficaciously in favour of the government of King Otho, and can contribute to lighten for him the weight of the pecuniary claims raised against him, we are ready to congratulate ourselves sincerely on such a result. Nevertheless, M. le Baron, in regard to what relates to the cession of the Greek islands, equally claimed in the name of the government of the Ionian Islands, as this is not purely a question of money between England and Greece, but is a question of territory connected with the delimitation established by a treaty concluded between the three cabinets which founded the Hellenic kingdom, it would, at all events be impossible for us, in our quality of signers of that act, to admit that this question should be treated by England and France to the exclusion of Russia. We feel it our duty, therefore, to make the reservation of our rights in this respect, and you will declare this to the English government in communicating to it this dispatch.
Receive, M. le Baron, the assurance of my very distinguished consideration.
(Signed) NESSELRODE
Oh, Count Carl Vassilievitch, how disinterested art thou and thy master Nicolas! In your eyes “the interest of the Greeks is superior to every other personal consideration!” Is it indeed! And why? Because by virtue of the superstition ye mutually profess, ye are Greeks in faith, in baptism, in body mystical, and in hope—considerations superior to the mere natural accidents of birth, language, and locality. To be zealous therefore for “the interest of the Greeks,” is to be zealous for your own. Greeks in faith, your traditions are anti-Moslem; whose expulsion from the Constantinian territory, and the restoration thereupon of the dominion of the founder of your superstition, is, you suppose, and rightly too, “the salutary end assigned to Russia by Divine Providence.” This is the hope of Javan—a hope, whose realisation must precede the Hope of Israel, “whose King shall be higher than Agag, (Gog,) and his kingdom shall be exalted.”
The affair with Greece is still unsettled, because the territorial question, the most important point of all, is yet untouched. The reader will see by the following extract from a letter, dated Constantinople January 30, 1850, which appeared in the London Times, the interesting and important developments likely to result from a disagreement between England and Russia on the subject.
“The blockade of the Piraeus by the British fleet under Sir William Parker, has naturally produced a great sensation at Constantinople. The Turks dislike the Greeks, of course, and are glad to see them receive a chastisement from the hands of a foreign power; but the very vigorous measures adopted by England with regard to King Otho will, it is natural to believe, cause great irritation at St. Petersburg. Some days since M. de Titoff sent off an extraordinary courier over land with dispatches for Count Nesselrode relative to the blockade of the Piraeus. All the world saw the irritation of the Czar at the intervention of England in the question of the extradition of the Hungarian refugees. Every one remembers the conduct of the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs to lord Bloomfield. If the Emperor Nicolas were irritated then at the humiliation he was forced to undergo, his anger will now be increased by a desire to avenge the wound which his pride received at that time. The demands made by Mr. Wyse are of too trivial a nature to warrant so decided a measure as blockade. One is, therefore, led to suppose there must be some more potent motive hidden beneath. The Turks fear that the entente cordiale will be broken between France and England, and that the latter Power will have to engage Russia single-handed. Should such be the case, the first step made by Russia will be to take possession of the Danubian principalities. The Czar has but to adopt a Scythian mode of warfare, and he may successfully defy our power. We cannot send our fleet into the Black Sea; for even if the treaty of July did not shut up the Dardanelles, there is no port in the stormy Euxine where our ships could find shelter. Sebastopol is the only safe harbour on that coast, and there are stationed 50 Russian men-of-war, lying at anchor under the guns of formidable batteries. There is no fear that the Russian fleet will leave its present quarters should a hostile British squadron be in the neighbourhood. The Czar’s ships will remain where they are, and if we wish to meet them we can only do so by entering the waters of the Dnieper. We have no land force at all proportioned to the army which the Emperor Nicolas has at present stationed in the Danubian principalities, nor, had we a force disposable, are there means for employing it efficiently. It is, therefore, evident, if hostilities should occur between England and Russia, that the Czar may put into execution his long-cherished prospects of aggression against Turkey without its being in our power to interfere. We cannot make war against Russia without the cooperation of one of the continental powers, and the nation which alone efficiently serve us in such circumstances is our natural ally, France. The Ministers of the Sultan see that the representatives of France and Russia have already begun to act in concert at Athens, for both have protested against the blockade. It is this which gives at present such disquiet to the Porte; for should England engage single–handed with the Czar, Turkey will be the first and greatest sufferer.”
The policy of Russia as carried out under the direction of Count Nesselrode, Chancellor of the Empire and Minister of Foreign Affairs, is the subject of high commendation by the emperor, who, in the following note addressed to him, not only expresses his appreciation of his services, but also avers his conviction, that Divine Providence has assigned to Russia the preservation of Europe from incalculable calamities, which would inevitably subvert “the bases of all legal order,” and let loose an anarchy which no power can control but his. Thus he writes:
—“Count Karl Vassilievitch! —The eminent labours which have signalised your career, so gloriously devoted to the service of the throne and the country, inspire me towards you with sentiments of sincere esteem and lively gratitude. Your name, which is connected with the most striking events of contemporary history, will pass to posterity with the souvenir of the salutary influence which the power of Russia has exercised over the destinies of Europe. You were the active assistant of my well-beloved brother, the Emperor Alexander of glorious memory, in the memorable transactions which have procured to Europe, freed from the yoke of an ambitious conqueror, 33 years of peace and repose. In presence of the effervescence of public opinion, of anarchical excesses, of the disturbances which have afflicted the West, and which threatened to overthrow the bases of all legal order, you, faithfully acting up to my sentiments, have known how to direct the policy of Russia towards the salutary end assigned to it by Divine Providence. The cooperation of the military forces of Russia accorded to Austria has crushed the Hungarian insurrection, and given a mortal blow to the subversive schemes of the enemies of social order. It is thus that by the grace of God it has been once again given to Russia to preserve Europe from the incalculable calamities with which it is threatened. During the time which was required for the accomplishment of this undertaking you were constantly near me. Appreciating the importance of your services, and desirous of offering you a testimonial of my sincere sentiments, I send you herewith my portrait, ornamented with diamonds, to be worn at your buttonhole.
“I am ever your very affectionate,
“NICOLAS.
“Warsaw, 22nd August (3 September.)”
Russia’s “salutary influence” is its anti-social, anti-liberal, and anti-democratic antagonism placed at the disposal of the old, decrepit, tyrannies of the West. She exercises no healthful influence in behalf of the peoples. In no country do we find her promoting the diffusion of knowledge, education, and a wholesome development of liberty. Her endeavours are to consolidate despotism as the vanguard of her own authority, and the earnest of her future ascendancy over all Europe. In doing this, she is fulfilling her appointed destiny—her divine mission, as it is in fact; for the decree hath long since gone forth, that the tyrannies of the Gentiles are to be assembled unto her, and “a guard” or protector shall she be to them. This is her “salutary influence” in their behalf. Left to themselves they could not stand three months before the liberalism of the age. They would come to an end before “the words of God were fulfilled;” and the time of birth would have arrived without any thing being produced. Democratic and Social Republicanism, however useful as an Apollyon in the earth, to embroil Satan and confound his policy, is not the end assigned to the crisis that hath overtaken the world. Russia is the protector of the thrones against the Democracy until the words of God be fulfilled. Her autocrat knows his position, and feels the responsibility; but he is blind and cannot see afar off. He sees Russia the ruler over all continental Europe, and lord of the East; but he does not see, that when her work is perfected she is “broken without hand,” and the allegiance of the nations, peoples, and languages of her dominion, is transferred to the bruiser of her head, the Woman’s Seed.
The autocrat is a man of faith, a firm believer in destiny. The faith he patronises is the faith so useful to tyrants, whose rule is incompatible with liberty, righteousness, and truth. Sixty, or a hundred millions of people, ignorant and superstitious as Hottentots, obedient to the traditions of Greek popery, governed by a despot for his own glory, and the honour and profit of a few thousand aristocrats and office-holders whom it may be expedient and necessary to promote, is his beau ideal of “legal order.” The basis of such legality as this is what he calls “faith,” and which says, “has entirely disappeared in the West;” but happily for the world, “the truth faith” still “exists in Russia alone!” Reader, what think you of that? Greek popery the true faith! “It exists in Russia alone,” and the want of it is the cause of all the disorders of the world! “I have this faith,” says he; “I have it firm!” How fortunate! How fortunate for Europe and Turkey just now that he is not fanatically inclined! “I am not a fanatic,” says he. But if thou wert, O Gog; if thy firm faith were to exuberate into fanaticism, O then what wouldst thou do? Would it not become a principle with thee to unsheathe thy glittering steel; and, like another Mahomet, as Commander of the Faithful to lead thy hordes to battle, with the cry of “Popery or Death!?” Put not your trust in princes. They are the angels or emissaries of the evil one. They are cruel and deceitful, and know not the plague of their own hearts. They are every thing by turns to suit the policy that happens to be the order of the day. Nicolas, the Prince of Rosh, is no exception to the rule. He does not know himself. He is a fanatic, and needs only to be aroused to make manifest his “faith.” None but a fanatic could give utterance to the ideas contained in the following address to the Russian and Polish Bishops, whom the Emperor assembled at St. Petersburg in 1849, translated and published by the London Times. Nicolas says:
“I do not wish for a new religion. A new sort of Catholic creed has been invented abroad, and I desire that it may not be introduced into my empire, because these innovators are the worst agitators, and without faith it is impossible that any thing can subsist. The West at this moment offers a fair specimen of what men come to if they have no faith—how great are the follies and absurdities which they commit. Look at Rome; I predicted all that would happen there. Faith has entirely disappeared in the West. The manner in which the Pope has been treated is a plain proof the true faith exists in Russia alone; and I hope (making the sign of the cross) that this holy faith may be maintained here. I told the late Pope Gregory the Sixteenth things which he had never before heard from any body else. The present Pope is a good man; his intentions are excellent; but his principles savour too much of the spirit of the age. The King of Naples is a good Catholic; he had been calumniated to the Pope, and now the pope is compelled to have recourse to him.”
Bishop Holowinski replied—“Your Majesty, the Holy Father was obliged to yield to circumstances and the spirit of the age.”
The Emperor—“Very possibly; but all these disorders arise from the want of faith. I am not a fanatic, but I have firm faith. In the West they run to two extremes—fanaticism and impiety.” Addressing the Polish Bishops, the Czar continued—“You are the near neighbours of these misguided men; let your example be their guide. If you encounter obstacles, address yourselves to me. I will employ all my power to stem this torrent of impiety and revolt, which is spreading more and more, and threatens even to penetrate into my dominions. A revolutionary spirit is the result of impiety. In the West there is no longer any religious faith, and this evil will increase still more.” Addressing himself to the Metropolitan Bishops, and kissing his hand, the Czar concluded by saying—“We have always understood each other, and I trust that it will always continue so.”
But why trouble we ourselves with England’s quarrel with the Greeks, and the ambitions and fanaticism of Russia, in the Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come? Because the events growing out of them are the means by which the way is being prepared for the introduction of that Kingdom and Age. It becomes therefore a Herald thereof to treat of these things. The interval between the present and the Age to Come is brief; a small fragment of time, termed “the Time of the End.” It is emphatically the time of preparation—the time “afore the harvest when the bud is perfect, and the sour-grape is ripening in the flower.” The grapes upon the clusters of the earth’s vine, are not yet fully ripe—Isaiah 18: 5; Revelation 14: 18; but ripening fast. The ripening influence is found in the political phenomena which shoot athwart the heavens revealing the latent principles at work, which, though hid from the unwatchful, are perceived as beacons of faith by them who know the truth. Prophecy is being fulfilled, and ever has been fulfilled, by human policy antagonised and controlled by men and angels, to which angels God hath put in subjection the present world. The past is but the type of the present and future. Prophecy is being fulfilled as in the days of old; and is as ever a sign to them that believe. It is a light shining in a dark place by which we are enabled to watch. They who have not the light run into extremes—one saying the kingdom will immediately appear, perhaps tomorrow; another, that it will not appear for two or three hundred years; and a third, that it appeared eighteen centuries ago! All wrong, and astray, because they know not the scriptures, and are unable to discern and read the time. They know not what or where the kingdom is, how then can they know the means of its introduction. Satan’s hosts must be marshalled, and his Head must lead them on to battle. When this work is done, “Gog, of the land of Magog, the Prince of Rosh, Mosc, and Tobl,” and his army, will be encamped in Israel’s land, and in possession of the Holy City. There will be then “the Serpent’s Head,” unsuspectingly awaiting the appearance of the Woman’s Seed to bruise him. That “Head” is the Russo-Assyrian Autocrat, and the “Serpent,” his dominion. But how comes this Serpent dominion under one head to be organised, and what induces its chief to erect his imperial palace on the Holy Mountain of the Lord? These are events pertaining to the not very distant future, which grow out of the antagonisms and ambitions of “the powers that be;” which will continue to work as they have been doing until they bring ruin upon themselves, and the purposes of God are fully established. The nations will then be awakened from their dream of political optimism under a popular sovereignty. Democracy will be taught obedience, and not to meddle with things too high for it. Kings, and priests, and nobles will be prisoners in chains, awaiting, like Agag, Adonizedec, and their contemporaries, at the hand of Joshua and Samuel, the punishment due to their crimes. Victor Hugo and his cis-Atlantic political seers, amiable enthusiasts that they are, will find their gospel of universal republicanism but the shadow of a dream. The era of revolutions will be past. The mighty God will have spoken peace to the nations. Demagogism will be suppressed, sectarianism abolished, and a social regeneration established under the heaven-born sovereignty of Jesus and the Saints. Success, then, to Russian ambition; for the speedier its consummation the sooner will “the kingdom come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” “Even so; come Lord Jesus, come quickly;” for our hope is in thee!
EDITOR.
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