[From the Evangelist, February 17th, 1898.]
We commend this book to all who would know what the “concert of European powers” means to a struggling kingdom and people used as a “buffer state” between the unspeakable Turk and civilized “Westerns.” The historical chapters of the work are a revelation of the intricacies of “the disgraceful deals of the great powers whose victim the kingdom of Greece has been.” The story is simply told with great candor and quiet reserve, but it carries a lesson that moves the heart and stirs the indignation of dispassionate and perhaps indifferent observers. How hard is it for a people like the Greeks or the Armenians to get a hearing! What “political necessities” demand silence; what diplomatic falsehoods, deceptions, subterfuges are indulged by ministries and cabinets that are called Christian! The history of Greece from the fall of the Byzantine Empire up to this hour is a tragedy, and the final deliverance in 1828 was more painfully sad and disappointing, more shamefully mismanaged and limited, more wretchedly hampered and hindered in every possible way, than is easily conceivable, considering the popular sentiment roused by such Philhellenes as Byron, Erskine, Gladstone, and the Genevan banker Eynard. Think of the massacre of Chios, and then hear men talking of Navarino as a blunder!
But let our readers turn to the pages of Dr. Rose’s book for information. There is a historical sketch of the Byzantine Empire, showing the most extraordinary misrepresentations which have held on till very recently; a second chapter exposes the “erroneous views which have prevailed in regard to the relation of the Greek of to-day to the Greek of the classical period,” with a chapter on “absurd ideas in vogue in regard to Greek pronunciation”; a fourth chapter gives the misery of the Turkish bondage and “their spiritual and political resurrection”; then follows one on the wrongs to the Greeks in their struggle for liberty, in which some American shipping firms are involved and “Mr. W. J. Stillman” is pretty severely handled; then “the kingdom of Greece before the war of 1897,” and an “Epilogue,” which should be read before Dr. Hepworth has time to get in his Armenian discoveries. This is the merest hint as to the intrinsic interest and pertinency of the book, the only unprejudiced and patriotic plea for the Greeks which has escaped the censorship of the press and politics and politicians. Let the Greeks be heard! Let the list of Philhellenes grow to a grand majority in Europe and America that shall make itself heard in behalf of justice and humanity!
The scholarly chapters are as admirable as the statesmanlike and patriotic ones. They should lead to a Greek revival. We think the university wars of “Greeks and Trojans” might be fought over again. We join the Greeks!
His EXCELLENCY KLÉON RANGABÉ, Greek Ambassador in Berlin, writes: “Many sincere thanks for the kind transmission of your most interesting book…. I can congratulate you most sincerely. You treat all the important subjects in so exhaustive and conclusive a manner that all those who seek for truth must necessarily be convinced. We are in consequence indebted to you for a valuable service, but your own American countrymen ought also to be thankful to you, for every apostle of truth is in his way a benefactor of humanity. I hope that the days of the Erasmian absurdity, which belongs to the Dark Ages and is unworthy of American scholars, are now numbered. I hope that your book will also appear in German as it would do a great deal of good here. What you say about the system applied to Greek studies in general is also perfectly correct. These studies are still and will always be the soul of every liberal education, and, constantly undermined by the materialistic tendencies of the age, they can only be saved through a fundamental change of this system. The language must henceforth be taught as a living one, having never ceased to live for a moment since the days of Homer.”
Neologos, an Athenian paper, writes a long article, reviewing the book and its author’s works in general. “The author’s name is already known to us by his lectures on Greece which have been published here. Mr. Rose belongs to those who will persevere to establish an idea; obstacles and difficulties can only serve to such characters to spur their ardor. Mr. Rose is inspired by the noble idea to disseminate a better knowledge of Greece of to-day and to enlist sympathies in her behalf. He is combating the influence of an impossible Grecophobe press. People abroad will change their opinion when they know our true history, our character, our morals, customs, etc.”
THE PUBLISHER OF THIS JOURNAL HAS PUBLISHED A GREEK TRANSLATION OF THE BOOK.
Other Athenian political and literary journals bring likewise reviews. All are full of praise of the author and his book. The editor of the journal, Salpinx, of Cyprus, writes that the author’s name is engraved in the hearts determination of Greeks.
D. B. ST. JOHN ROOSA, M.D., President Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital, New York: “My dear Dr. Rose, The copy of the important work written by you, which has just been published, came to me two days ago. I write to thank you, and again to express my sincere interest in your book. I hope you may live to see it successful. A common language for scientific men is indeed a great need. Yours ever faithfully.”
B. T. SPENCER, A.M., Professor of Greek, Kentucky Wesleyan College: “I am deeply interested in the subject and feel that that interest has been intensified by reading Dr. Rose’s book. All the friends of Hellas should read it.”