Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/71

 ATHENS BEFORE THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 49 Nearly the whole of the Grecian world, putting aside Italian, Sicilian, and African Greeks, was at this time included either in the alliance of Lacedasmon or in that of Athens, so that the truce of thirty years insured a suspension of hostilities every- where. Moreover, the Lacedaemonian confederates had deter- mined by majority of votes to refuse the request of Saraos for of the jury,' said the counsel, ' it will be time for me now to take notice of another circumstance, notorious to all the gentlemen who have been settled in the island, that the natives of Minorca are but ill-affected to the English, and to the English government. It is not much to be wondered at. They are the descendants of Spaniards ; and they consider Spain as the country to which they ought naturally to belong : it is not at all to be wondered at that they arc indisposed to the English, whom they consider as their con- querors. Of all the Minorquins in the island, the plaintiff perhaps stands singularly and eminently the most seditious, turbulent, and dissatisfied sub- ject to the crown of Great Britain that is to be found in Minorca. Gentle- men, he is, or chooses to be called, the patriot of Minorca. Now patriotism is a very pretty thing among ourselves, and we owe much to it : we owe our lib- erties to it 5 but we should have but little to value, and we should have but little of what we now enjoy, were it not for our trade. And for the sake of our trade, it is not Jit that we should encourage patriotism in Minorca; for it is there de- structive of our trade, and there is an end to our trade in the Mediterranean, if it goes there. But here it is very well ; for the body of the people in this coun- try will have it : they have demanded it, and in consequence of their de mands, they have enjoyed liberties which they will transmit to their posterity, and it is not in the power of this government to deprive them of it. But they will take care of all our conquests abroad. If that spirit prevailed in Minorca, the consequence would be the loss of that country, and of course of our Mediterranean trade. We should be sorry to set all our slaves free in our plantations.' " The prodigious sum of damages awarded by the jury, shows the strength of their sympathy with this Minorquin plaintiff against the English officer. I doubt not that the feeling of the dikastery at Athens was much of the same kind, and often quite as strong ; sincerely disposed to protect the subject-allies against misconduct of Athenian tricrarchs, or inspectors. The feelings expressed in the speech above cited would also often find utterance from Athenian orators in the assembly ; and it would not be diffi- cult to produce parallel passages, in which these orators imply discontent on the part of the allies to be the natural state of things, such as Athens could not hope to escape. The speech here given shows that such feelings arise, almost inevitably, out of the uncomfortable relation of two govern- ments, one supreme and the other subordinate. They are not the product of peculiar cruelty and oppression on the part of the Athenian democracy, as Mr. Mitford and so many others have sought to prove. VOL. vi. 3 4oc