The Greeks expected that a civilized government would have taken measures for improving the internal communications of the country, and exerted itself to open new channels of commercial enterprise. They had hoped to see some part of the loan expended in the formation of roads, and in establishing regular packets to communicate with the islands. The best road the loan ever made, was one to the marble quarries of Pentelicus in order to build the new palace, and the only packets in Greece were converted by his majesty into royal yachts.[E] The regency, it is true, made a decree announcing their determination to make about 250 miles of road. But their performances were confined to repairing the road from Nauplia to Argos, which had been made by Capo d'Istria. The Greek government, however, has now completed the famous road to the marble quarries, a road of six miles in length to the Piraeus, and another of five miles across the isthmus of Corinth. The King of Bavaria very nearly had his neck broken on a road said to have been then practicable between Argos and Corinth. We can answer for its being now perfectly impassable for a carriage. Two considerable military roads are, however, now in progress, one from Athens to Thebes, and another from Argos to Tripolitza. But these roads have been made without any reference to public utility, merely to serve for marching troops and moving artillery, and consequently the old roads over the mountains, as they require less time, are alone used for commercial transport.
[Footnote E: This is no exaggeration. We once visited the island of Santorin, which has a population of 9000 souls, who own 46 vessels of 200 tons and upwards, besides many smaller craft. King Otho was sailing about in one steamer at the time, and another was acting the man-of-war amidst a fleet of English, French, Prussian, and Austrian frigates in the front of the Piraeus; yet no post had been forwarded to Santorin for a fortnight. Santorin is about 90 miles from Athens, and yields a very considerable revenue to the Greek monarchy.]
It is evident that a poor peasantry, possessing no other means of transport than their mules and pack-horses, must reckon distance entirely by time, and the only way to make them perceive the advantages to be derived from roads, is forming such bridle-paths as will enable them to arrive at their journey's end a few hours sooner. The Greek government never though of doing this, and every traveller who has performed the journey from Patras to Athens, must have seen fearful proofs of this neglect in the danger he ran of breaking his neck at the Kaka-scala or cursed stairs of Megara.
Nay, King Otho's government has employed its vis inertiae in preventing the peasantry, even when so inclined, from forming roads at their own expense; for the peasantry of Greece are far more enlightened than the Bavarians. In the year 1841, the provincial council of Attica voted that the road from Kephisia—the marble-quarry road—should be continued through the province of Attica as far as Oropos. Provision was made for its immediate commencement by the labour of the communes through which it was to pass. Every farmer possessing a yoke of oxen was to give three days' labour during the year, and every proprietor of a larger estate was to supply a proportional amount of labour, or commute it for a fixed rate of payment in money. This arrangement gave universal satisfaction. Government was solicited to trace the line of road; but a year passed—one pretext for delay succeeding another, and nothing was done. The provincial council of 1842 renewed the vote, and government again prevented its being carried into execution. It is said that his Majesty is strongly opposed to the system of allowing the Greeks to get the direction of any public business into their own hands; and that he would rather see his kingdom without roads than see the municipal authorities boasting of performing that which the central government was unable to accomplish.
We shall only trouble our readers with a single instance of the manner in which commercial legislation has been treated in Greece. We could with great ease furnish a dozen examples. Austrian timber pays an import duty of six per cent, in virtue of a commercial treaty between Royal Greece and Imperial Austria. Greek timber cut on the mountains round Athens pays an excise duty of ten per cent; and the value of the Greek timber on the mountains is fixed according to the sales made at Athens of Austrian timber, on which the freight and duty have been paid. The effect can be imagined. In our visit to Greece we spent a few days shooting woodcocks with a fellow-countryman, who possesses an Attic farm in the mountains, near Deceleia. His house was situated amidst fine woods of oak and pine; yet he informed us that the floors, doors, and windows, were all made of timber from Trieste, conveyed from Athens on the backs of mules. The house had been built by contract; and though our friend gave the contractor permission to cut the wood he required within five hundred yards of the house, he found that, what with the high duty demanded by the government, and with the delays and difficulties raised by the officers charged with the valuation, who were Bavarian forest inspectors, the most economical plan was to purchase foreign timber. The consequence of this is, the Greeks burn down timber as unprofitable, and convert the land into pasturage. We have seen many square miles of wood burning on Mount Pentelicus; and on expressing our regret to a Greek minister, he shrugged up his shoulders and said: "That, sir, is the way in which the Bavarian foresters take care of the forests." Yet this Greek, who could sneakingly ridicule the folly of the Bavarians, was too mean to recommend the king to change the law.
Let us now turn to a more enlivening subject of contemplation, and see what the Greeks have done towards improving their own condition. We shall pass without notice all their exertions to lodge and feed themselves, or fill their purses. We can trust any people on those points; our observations shall be confined to the moral culture. We say that the Greeks deserve some credit for turning their attention towards their own improvement, instead of adopting the Gallican system of reform, and raising a revolution against King Otho. They seem to have set themselves seriously to work to render themselves worthy of that liberty, the restoration of which they have so long required in vain from the allied powers. There is, perhaps, no feature in the Greek revolution more remarkable than the eager desire for education manifested by all classes. The central government threw so many impediments in the way of the establishment of a university, that the Greeks perceived that no buildings would be erected either as lecture-rooms for the professors, or to contain the extensive collections of books which had been sent to Greece by various patriotic Greeks in Europe. Men of all parties were indignant at the neglect, and at last a public meeting was held, and it was resolved to raise a subscription for building the university. The government did not dare to oppose the measure; fortunately, there was one liberal-minded man connected with the court at the time, Professor Brandis of Bonn, and his influence silenced the grumbling of the Bavarians; the subscription proceeded with unrivalled activity, and upwards of £.4000 was raised in a town of little more than twenty thousand inhabitants—half the inhabitants of which had not yet been able to rebuild their own houses. Many travellers have seen the new university at Athens, and visited its respectable library, and they can bear testimony to the simplicity and good sense displayed in the building.
One of the most remarkable features of the great moral improvement which has taken place in the population, is the eagerness displayed for the introduction of a good system of female education. The first female school established in Greece was founded at Syra, in the time of Capo d'Istria, by that excellent missionary the late Rev. Dr Korck, who was sent to Greece by the Church Missionary Society. An excellent female school still exists in this island, under the auspices of the Rev. Mr Hilner, a German missionary ordained in England, and also in connexion with the Church Missionary Society. The first female school at Athens, after the termination of the Revolution, was established by Mrs Hill, an American lady, whose exertions have been above all praise. A large female school was subsequently formed by a society of Greeks, and liberally supported by the Rev. Mr Leeves, and many other strangers, for the purpose of educating female teachers. This society raises about £.800 per annum in subscriptions among the Greeks. We cannot close the subject of female education without adding a tribute of praise to the exertions of Mrs Korck, a Greek lady, widow of the excellent missionary whom we have mentioned as having founded the first female school at Syra; and of Mr George Constantinidhes, a Greek teacher, who commenced his studies under the auspices of the British and Foreign School Society, and who has devoted all his energy to the cause of the education of his countrymen, and has always inculcated the great importance of a good system of female education. We insist particularly on the merits of those who devoted their attention to this subject, as indicating a deep conviction of the importance of moral and religious instruction. Male education leads to wealth and honours. Boys gain a livelihood by their learning, but girls are educated that they may form better mothers.
Other public institutions have not been neglected. The citizens of Athens have built a very respectable civil hospital, and we mention this as it is one of the public buildings which excites the attention of strangers, and which is often supposed to have been erected by the government, though entirely built from the funds raised by local taxes. The amount of municipal taxes which the Greeks pay, is another subject which deserves attention. The general taxes in Greece are very heavy. Every individual pays, on an average, twelve shillings, which makes the payment of a family of five persons amount to £.3 sterling annually. This is a very large sum, when the poverty and destitution of the people is taken into consideration, and is greater than is paid by any other European nation where the population is so thinly scattered over the surface of the country. Yet as soon as the Greeks became convinced that the general government would contribute nothing towards improving the country, they determined to impose on themselves additional burdens rather than submit to wait. Hospitals, schools, churches, and bridges, built by several municipalities, attest the energy of the determination of the people to make every sacrifice to improve their condition. We offer our readers a statement of the amount of the taxes imposed by the municipalities of Attica on themselves for local improvements. The town communes of Athens and the Piraeus find less difficulty in collecting the large revenues they possess, than the country districts their comparatively trifling resources.
Drachmas
Athens, with a population of 22,309 collects 159,000
Piraeus, … 2,099 … 27,300
Kekropia, … 2,158 … 3,759
Marathon, … 1,214 … 1,708
Phyle, … 2,659 … 7,000
Laurion, … 1,470 … 2,356
Kalamos, … 2,000 … 2,747
———- ———-
33,909 … 203,870
From this statement we find that each family of five persons pays, on an average, thirty drachmas of self-imposed taxes, or about twenty-two shillings annually, in addition to the £.3 sterling paid to the general government.