loan, express a hope, that in the event of any future financial operation, those entrusted with its management will leave no effort untried to prevent the fate that has befallen the first Greek loan, more especially in its earlier stages. Knowing, as I do, that the consolidation of the social edifice in Greece, if not the safety of the cause itself, depends on the establishment of her credit in this country, I did not fail, during my late visit, to continue the inquiries commenced in the preceding year, relative to the resources of the confederation; and from the following statement, for which I am principally indebted to my valued friend Nicolo Contumas, the patriotic representative of Tinos, and the celebrated Professor Anthimos Gazi, of Thessaly, whom I found at Napoli, actively employed in representing the district of Olympus. Pursuant to a law of the Legislative Body, passed during its last session, the Morea is divided into 27 departments, namely Napoli di Romania, Argos, Corinth, Lower Nachaguis, Vostitza, Calavrita, Tripolitza, Caritena, Phanari, Arcadia, Pyrgos, Gastouni, Patrass, Neocastro and Modon, Coron, Nission, Mieromani, Andrussa, Emplakika, Calamata, Leondari, Eastern and Western Maina, Menomvasias, Mistras, Prastos, and San Pietro. What with the natives, and those who have been led to the Morea by the circumstances of the war, the number of the inhabitants now there, is by the lowest calculation estimated at 700,000, of these there are 70,000 in arms. As I have already made frequent allusions to the richness and fertility of this portion of Greece, it will be sufficient for the present object to state, that besides its producing every necessary of life in abundance, the exports of the Morea consist of the following articles, viz. olive oil, currants, silk, cotton, valonea, sponges, wool, goat and sheep skins, ship-timber, and bees-wax. In the article of provisions, great quantities of cattle, sheep, poultry, butter, cheese, and honey, are supplied to the Ionian Islands. The fruits principally exported from the Morea, are figs, oranges, lemons, and almonds. Anxious to ascertain as nearly as possible the extent of the national domains, I am, from the concurrent testimony of several well-informed members of the Legislative Assembly, induced to state that 80 parts out of 100 of the whole country will be at the disposal of the Legislature. This property, of which the value is incalculable, consists of lands, olive plantations, forests, principally of oak, ash, and fir, salt-pits, fisheries, public buildings, gardens, &c. Notwithstanding the impossibility of cultivating more than a very small part of the soil, the Government was, during the last year, enabled to collect about a million of Spanish dollars merely from a tenth of the produce of private individuals, and its quota of 30 per cent. on what the national domains, of which there is but a very inconsiderable portion in cultivation, produced, together with a trifling duty on imports, and without levying a single tax. I was assured by many, that if the financial department was properly regulated, nearly double the above sum might have been raised in the Morea alone. Continental Greece is divided into 29 districts, the names of which are as follow:-Athens, Thebes, Livadia, Talentium, Butrinitza, and Turkochori, Zeitouni, Almyros, and Cacossi, Magnesia, Salona, Lidoriki, Malandrina, Neopatras, Carpenissi, Cravoari, Venetico, Apocuro, Zigo, Vlocho, Xeromero, Vonitza, Messolunghi, Vrachori, Anatolico, Valtos, Agrapha, Arta, Aspropotamos, Dervenachoria, and Negropont. The inhabitants of that part of Continental Greece which is in the possession of the Greeks, is estimated at 600,000 souls, of whom 40,000 are capable of bearing arms. The exported produce consists of cotton, silk, wool, corn, oil, valonea, skins, ship timber, fir, cattle, and provisions of various kinds. With respect to the national property in this portion of the confederacy, it bears an exact proportion, both as to its extent and value, to that of the Morea. Owing to its having been so frequently the seat of war, and the consequent impossibility of extending cultivation, as in the Peloponnesus, the amount of revenue collected last year is not estimated at more than 500,000 Spanish dollars. According to the statements of Anthimos Gazi, who is intimately acquainted with the subject, Thessaly contains above 800,000 inhabitants, of which not more than 35,000 are Turks. There is not a more productive region in Europe, than that in the neighborhood of Larissa and Zeitouni. The exports of Thessaly are very large, and consist of silk, wool, cotton, flax, hemp, wine, tobacco, wheat, rice, maize, &c. The best manufactures of Greece are also established in this country, particularly those of silk, cotton, and wool. The Archipelago forms two divisions, that of the Cyclades and Sporades. In the first are comprised Tinos, Myconos, Syra, Paros, Antiparos, Sipros, Milos, Khimilos, Cos, Amorgos, Sykiro, Polycandros, Santorini, Astipalica, Anaphi, Zea, Thermia, and Seriphos. In the second; Samos, Patmos, Leros, Colymnos, Icaria, Scopelos, Scyros, Sckiathos, Melindronia, Carpathos, Nissiros, Simi, Chaliki, Episcope, Cassos, Ægina, Salamis, Angistrion, Poros, Hydra, Spezzia, and Ipsara. The inhabitants of these islands do not exceed 300,000 souls, of whom 50,000, including 30,000 excellent seamen, are capable of bearing arms. The revenue raised during the last year in this portion of the confede ration, is estimated at 200,000 Spanish dollars. The island produce consists of wine, silk, wool, valonea, sponges of the first quality, and various fruits. The number of merchant-vessels belonging to the islands attached to the confederacy is computed at about 2500, of which one-third are ships and brigs. There can indeed be no better proof of the internal resources of the confederation, than in the fact of its having carried on a successful warfare against the whole force of Turkey and the Barbary states for three years, without borrowing a farthing, or receiving any assistance of consequence from without; and yet the whole of its debt, including the first loan contracted in this country, does not amount to five millions of Spanish dollars. Some notion may be formed of the riches of Greece, when I state, on the authority of the best political economists of the country, and after careful inquiry, that whenever the Government shall be in a situation to dispose of the national property, the olive plantations alone will yield a sum of more than fifty millions of Spanish dollars. |