“Some of my honorable friends have spoken harshly of the expedition to the Morea; they have even thought that it was in no degree whatever entitled to public approbation; but I have so ardently desired some kind of interference, particularly French interposition, in behalf of Greece, that I cannot join them in their criticisms, and as to our portion of that generosity which was manifested in the relief afforded, without speaking of Russia, whose motives are obvious, it would be sufficient to advert to two discourses from the throne, in one of which the battle of Navarino is called by Charles X. _glorious_, while from George IV. it received the appellation of _untoward_, to prevent us from confounding the shades of the two interests in the cause of Greece, and to mark the distinction between the cannonading at Terceira and the hospitality at Brest. The last protocol, however, from London has humbled my pride and diminished my expectations. “Why, gentlemen, have the Greeks taken up arms? why have they endured so many calamities? why have they so freely shed their blood? It was to free themselves from paying tribute to the Turks; to build up again their ancient country; and to enjoy in their own way the blessings of self-government. But now, gentlemen, the protocol brings into fresh existence the odious tribute; the greatest part of Greece is shut out from Greece, and to govern the small portion which remains it is proposed to look, I know not where, or for whom, but for some foreign prince, a hospodar, a mongrel of the East and of the West, in whom the Greeks will only behold a vassal of the Porte, and for whom they must pay an additional tribute. “All this, gentlemen, may be very agreeable to Russia, which dreams already of new subjects there; and to England, which has always feared that in that country she would find rivals in the coasting trade; but not to France, whose interest it is to have there a friendly and powerful nation, a barrier against the conquering and commercial ambition of other powers. Upon that topic it is that we look for explanations. The government of Italy is enslaved by the influence of Austria. Italy, were she free, would be our friend. Spain, whose methods of justice consist in strangling by turns the patriots and the Carlists, will never, in truth, be our ally until she again becomes constitutional. “As to Portugal, it is in vain that the English government has lately sought to balance the mock sovereignty of the cortés of Miguel against those institutions which the British ambassador, let it be said, by the by, had imported for it from Brazil.