William Eton

Posts in The Copybook credited to ‘William Eton’

William Eton (fl. 1777-1811) was an English diplomat and adventurer, whose ‘Survey of the Turkish Empire’ (1798) became a best-seller but drew criticism for Eton’s strongly pro-Greek sympathies and desire to see Greece liberated (with Russian help) from the Ottoman Empire. Eton’s knowledge of both Imperial Russia and Ottoman Turkey was first hand, thanks to time served as British consul in St Petersburg and later in Constantinople. In 1800, Eton was appointed Superintendent of Quarantine in Malta, though from 1802 he took sick leave and lived in England. He became embroiled in a row over his criticisms of civil commissioner Hildebrand Oakes’s government in Malta, and though Oakes was relieved of his post in 1812 Eton had been dismissed the year before.

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The Source of Civilisation by William Eton

Diplomat William Eton warns his fellow Englishmen that shutting down debate does not make for a more united society.

In 1798, diplomat William Eton published some observations on life in the Ottoman Empire. He warned readers back home that no society can be made harmonious by silencing dissenting voices; in such societies loneliness, drug abuse and distrust spiral out of control, sneering passes for debate, and only fashionably coarse comedians are allowed to raise a laugh.

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