40 Ipsariots, dressed like Turks, conducted two fireships under full sail, as if they were flying from the Greeks, whilst two Ipsariot vessels pursued them, firing on them with blank cartridges, into the midst of the Turkish fleet, and fastened one of them to the admiral's ship, the other to the ship of the capitana-bey. Both were soon in flames; the former narrowly escaped; the latter blew up with 1800 men; the capudan pacha, Cara Mehmet, however, got on shore, before the explosion took place. Three frigates were wrecked on the coast of Asia Minor; one vessel of 36 guns was captured; storms and terror destroyed a part of the Ottoman fleet, and of 35 vessels only 18 returned, much injured, into the Dardanelles. The 17 Ipsariots arrived safely at Ipsara, where the ephori rewarded their leaders, Constantine Kanaris and George Mniauly, with naval crowns. The Greeks were once more masters of the sea, and renewed the blockade of the Turkish ports, which Great Britain now formally acknowledged. The British government seemed to have changed their policy towards the Greeks, from the time of Canning's entrance into the ministry, and Maitland, lord high commissioner of the Ionian isles, displayed less hostility against them. Even Austria and France, who had previously protected neutral vessels against "the arbitrary and unlawful measure of the blockade," now seemed to acknowledge the right of blockade by the Greeks. Greek vessels delivered Missolonghi on the sea side, November 20. The Suliots maintained themselves in the defiles of the Chimæra, and the remains of the army of Mavrocordato on the coast of the gulf of Lepanto. The amnesty, proclaimed by Omer Vrione, met with no confidence among the mountaineers; had he not already betrayed two of his former masters? His expedition against Ætolia entirely failed. Wherever his troops appeared, the peasants burned their villages, collected in bands in the mountains, and continued the guerilla warfare. Near Missolonghi, finally, which, from Nov. 7, 1822, to the assault of Jan. 6, 1823, he had repeatedly attacked, Omer

The war, as we have already said, was not carried on by regular battles, but consisted of skirmishes, surprises, &c., as every insurrection of an undisciplined people must; and, generally speaking, it is the way in which men can most effectually defend their own soil against well appointed invaders. The Greeks were well fitted for this sort of war, by their uncommon activity. Their

swiftness in running is such, that many of them can overtake a well mounted horseman in a long race. VOL. VI.

3

Vrione was repulsed by Mavrocordato and Marco Botzaris, with great loss; he was obliged to raise the siege, lost his ordnance, and retreated to Vonitza. The most important consequence of this unsuccessful campaign of the Turks, was the fall of Napoli di Romania. (q. v.) On the day of St. Andrew, the patron of the Morea (November 30, old style, December 12, new style), a band of volunteers took the fort Palamidi by assault. This brought the city into the power of the Greeks, who observed the terms of the capitulation, and transported the Turkish garrison to Scala Nuova. The seat of government was to have been established in this bulwark of Peloponnesian independence, when the old discord among the capitani broke out anew, and Colocotroni became suspected of the design of becoming prince of the Morea under Turkish protection.

Meanwhile, Constantinople was disturbed by the riots of the janizaries. The unsuccessful campaign in the Morea, the disasters in Asia, the scarcity in the capital (caused by the interruption of importations by the Greeks), the severe sumptuary orders of the sultan, and the command to deliver up the gold and silver to the mint, the debasing of the coin, and the obstruction of commerce, caused general dissatisfaction among the Mussulmans. Halet Effendi, the faithful friend of the sultan from his youth, who had become obnoxious on account of his plans for quelling the mutinous spirit of the janizaries (who refused to march to the Morea) by means of Asiatic troops and European discipline, and on account of his influence, which excluded the grandees of the empire from the confidence of the sultan, fell a victim to the hate of the soldiery. Sultan Mahmud II (q. v.) found himself constrained to discharge the adherents of Halet-the grand-vizier Salih Pacha, the mufti, and other high officers. He hoped to save his friend by an honorable banishment to Asia (Nov. 10); but he was obliged to send his death warrant after him, and Halet's head, with those of his adherents, was exposed on the gates of the seraglio (Dec. 4, 1822). The hatti-sheriff, which appointed Abdullah Pacha, a friend of the janizaries, grand-vizier, concluded with the words, "Look well to your ways, for, God knows, the danger is great."

Adoption of a Constitution in Greece, and third unsuccessful Campaign of the Turks against the Greeks, in 1823. The centra government of Greece, in which Mavrocordato and Negris were distinguished,

aimed at two objects. Fully sensible of the truth of the words of a Greek author, "as all the states of Greece wished to rule, all have lost the sovereignty," they endeavored to establish union at home; on which, at the same time, they founded their hope that Europe would, at length, look with approbation and confidence on the restoration of an independent Greek state. In this view, the Greek government at Corinth issued a proclamation to the Christian powers (April 15, 1822); but the negotiations on the Greek affairs, at Vienna, and afterwards at Verona, took a turn unfavorable to the Greeks, or rather remained unfavorable, when the Porte, by its declarations of February 28 and April 18, 1822, seemed to be disposed to be more lenient. The "holy alliance" then thought that the continuance of the Porte as a legitimate power, and the acknowledgment of Greek independence, were incompatible; yet the powers thought themselves obliged to interpose with the sultan in favor of the civil and religious security of the Greeks. Count Metaxa was sent as envoy of the Greek government to the congress of Verona (see Congress); but he was only permitted to go to Roveredo. Jan. 2, 1823, he wrote from Ancona to pope Pius VII, describing the miserable condition of Greece, imploring his intercession with the monarchs, and declaring at the same time, that the Greeks were willing to submit their rights to the examination of the congress, and to be ruled by a Christian sovereign, under wise and firm laws, but would never again consent to any sort of connexion with the Turks. The government of Argos declared the same, in a memorial of Aug. 29, 1822, directed to the congress. The answer to these entreaties is contained in the followng passage of the circular of Verona (Dec. 14, 1822): Les monarques, décidés à repousser le principe de la révolte, en quelque lieu et sous quelque forme qu'il se montrát, se hatèrent de le frapper d'une égale et unanime réprobation. Mais écoutant_en même tems la voix de leur conscience et d'un devoir sacré, ils plaidèrent la cause de l'humanité, en faveur des victimes d'une entreprise aussi irréfléchie que coupable (The monarchs, decided to suppress the principle of revolt, in whatever place or under whatever form it might appear, hastened to condemn it with equal and unanimous disapprobation. But, open at the same time to the voice of their conscience and of a sacred duty, they have pleaded the cause of humanity in favor of the victims of an undertaking as inconsiderate as

guilty). The dissensions in Greece, it cannot be denied, were a strong objection to the acknowledgment of Greek independence. Colocotroni refused the central government admission into Napoli di Romania, and deliberated, with other ambitious capitani in Tripolizza, on a division of the Morea into hereditary principalities.* The central government, however, succeeded in preventing the dangers of a civil war, and called a second national assembly at Astro, in January, 1823. In regard to the election of deputies, the laws of Nov. 21 and Dec. 3, 1822, had already established two divisions, that of gerontes or elders, for from 10 to 50 families, and that of senators according to eparchies. Mavrocordato principally contributed to the restoration of concord, at the time when the declaration of the congress of Verona was communicated by the British embassy at Constantinople to this effect: "The Greeks must submit to their lawful sovereign the sultan." At the same time, information was received of a new Turkish expedition, destined to attack the Morea by land and sea. The number of deputies. was now increasing at Astro; even Ulysses and other capitani repaired thither, with their bands, from Tripolizza; so that the national assembly at Astro consisted of 100 deputies, at the opening of its sessions (March 14). Mavromichalis was elected president; Theodore Negris, secretary. Even Colocotroni submitted to the assembly. The members of the legislative and executive councils were then elected. Condurioti of Hydra was chosen president of the former; Petro Mavromichalis, bey of Maina, of the latter. Both bodies determined to raise from 40,000,000 to 50,000,000 of piastres for

It has been one of the causes of the misfor

tunes of the Greeks, that the capitani, with little in view but their own interest, have been, generally speaking, the only leaders who coincided in spirit and feelings with the great body of the people. The other leading men, educated abroad, and imbued with foreign opinions, have, in many cases, shown great ignorance of the state and character of the people with whom they acted. The abortive trials to establish a form of govern ment for Greece, at different times, have given proof of this. The ill success of these trials, however, has been, in no small degree, owing to a want of sound political elements in the people. which have so often obstructed the establishment The same cause has given rise to the difficulties of wise and settled forms of government in France and South America. On the other hand, the orderly character of the people in the North American colonies, and their long exercise, in fact, of periment when they instituted an independent the rights of freemen, gave success to their ex

government.

the purpose of levying a force of 50,000 men, and equipping 100 large men-of-war. The principles of the constituent resolutions of Epidaurus were adopted for all Greece, with some unimportant modifications, and eparchs substituted for provincial governments. The French military code was adopted, with some changes, and the preparation of a new criminal code decreed. The assembly then proclaimed the new constitution of Astro (April 23, 1823), and dissolved, after the national government established by it had gone into operation at Tripolizza (April 20). Thus order was, in some degree, restored, but not concord among the capitani. This produced several changes of the ministers and the presidents of the two councils. Mavrocordato was made president, and Colocotroni vice-president, and Demetrius Ypsilanti was removed, as unqualified for public affairs. The secretary Negris, also, received his discharge. The Greeks continued united only in refusing an amnesty, and such an independence as that of Moldavia and Walachia, offered to them by British agents. The British policy now permitted at least an indirect support of the cause of Greece, from Malta and the Ionian Islands. The French cabinet no longer attempted to prevent Frenchmen from participating in the cause of the Greeks. But no power was willing to declare itself openly in their favor, before Russia had manifested her sentiments. The emperor Alexander had broken off direct diplomatic relations with the Porte. He insisted upon the entire evacuation of Moldavia and Walachia.

The events of the year 1823 were not less bloody and confused than those of the preceding years. Whilst, in Thessaly and Epirus, there was a suspension of arms; and the Greek flag (ight blue and white horizontal stripes) commanded the sea, the populace in Constantinople manifested their rage by setting fire to different parts of the city, because they were prevented from committing massacres. March 1, 1823, an attempt was made to pillage and burn the Greek suburbs; but the wind drove the flames against the Turkish quarters. Four times the sea of fire rolled against the Greek quarters, and four times a fresh north wind rolled it back against the Turkish houses. Pera was saved; but 6000 Turkish houses, part of the cannon foundery (Tophana), and part of the naval arsenal, were reduced to ashes. The Mussulinans finally cried out, "God is with the Giaours." The grand-vizier

Abdullah was dismissed in consequence of this conflagration, and Ali Bey, a pacha hostile to the janizaries, succeeded him. These troops, therefore, meditated vengeance; and, July 13, a new fire broke out, which consumed 1500 private houses, and three frigates. Order was, however, restored by severe measures; more favorable news arrived from Asia; and the sultan resolved on a general war of extermination against the Greeks, on account of which he called all Mussulmans, from 15 to 60 years, to arms. On the other hand, Greece endeavored to organize an army and a financial system. The dissolved battalion of Philhellenists became the nucleus of the first Greek regiment. Mavrocordato was placed at the head of the land forces. The minister of the marine (Orlandi, a Hydriot) organized the navy, which consisted, in 1823, of 403 sail, with cannon. The largest (the Hercules) carried 26 guns. The rich Hydriot Miaulis was admiral; Manuel Tumbasis of Hydra, George Demitracci of Spezzia, and Nicolas Apostolos of Ipsara, vice-admirals. A Greek order of merit (a light blue cross) was established. The financial department met with great difficulties every where, particularly on the islands. The disputes of the government with the Hydriot navarchs, on the subject of arrears of pay and the booty of Napoli, which the capitani were unwilling to divide with the islanders, had a bad effect on the naval operations. The Greek fleet, however, gained a victory (March 22, 1823) over an Egyptian flotilla destined for Candia; but it was unable to prevent the landing of Turkish troops; and the daring expeditions of the Ipsariots and Samiots on the coast of Asia Minor were without important results. When the fleet of the capudan pacha finally appeared, in June, the Greek ships retired, and supplied Caristo and Negropont in Euboea, Patras, Coron and Modon in the Morea, and Lepanto, with fresh troops and provisions. The land forces of the Greeks were now systematically distributed. Mavrocordato was at the head of the whole. He had prevented the trial of Colocotroni, who was accused of treachery, and won over that capitano by promoting his election to the vice-presidency and to the post of second in command. Of the forces, the command in chief in Western Hellas was given to the Suliot Marco Botzaris: in Eastern Hellas Ulysses commanded. The Suliots were faithful and trusty allies. The Albanian tribes, who had caused the defeat of Omer Vrione by their desertion of him,

tæa.

were less to be relied on. These tribes sold themselves to the highest bidder; some bands accepted the offers of the pacha of Scutari, who marched against the Greeks in 1823. The insurrection of the inhabitants of Eastern Thessaly had obliged Mehemed Pacha (the murderer of Ali), the second successor of the seraskier Khurshid, who had collected the ruins of Khurshid's army after the defeat at Larissa, to retreat from the southern part of Thessaly. In his rear, Saloniki and Seres were threatened by the Greek officer Diamantis, who had taken possession of the peninsula of Cassandra (Feb. 23, 1823). But the troops from Rumelia soon drove him back. The army under the seraskier of Rumelia (25,000 strong), after five months' preparation, finally opened the campaign, in June, from Larissa. It advanced with caution, in two masses, towards Livadia. But the Greeks, under Mavromichalis and Mavrocordato, instead of waiting for them behind the isthmus, took a position near Megara, and Colocotroni received a command over the forces of Ulysses and Niketas, with whose bands the Peloponnesian army united near PlaFrom this place they advanced against the enemy, towards the end of June. After some fighting in detail, Ulysses defeated one of the main bodies of the Turks, under Mehemet Pacha, at Thermopylae. He then joined the army under Colocotroni, who attacked (July 7) the Turkish' camp near the monastery of St. Luke (between the cities of Thebes and Livadia), which was captured by Ulysses and Niketas, after a bloody fight. The Turks retreated with great loss. Ulysses overtook them (July 17), and routed them in the plains of Cheronea. But the seraskier collected new forces, and advanced again, whilst, at the same time, Jussuf and Omer Vrione, supported by the fleet of the capudan pacha, off Patras, were destined to advance on Missolonghi, and the pacha of Scutari was to enter the Morea through Western Greece, by Vrachori, Vonitza and Salona. But the attack of the seraskier on Volos and the peninsula of Tricori failed; Jussuf's march was delayed by the desertion of 8000 Albanians, and the vanguard of the pacha of Scutari (who, with 20,000 men, partly Albanians, had occupied the heights of Agrapha, and threatened Etolia) was surprised at midnight (Aug. 20, 1823), in the camp of Carpinissi, by Marco Botzaris. Whilst the mountaineers, from Thessaly and Epirus, attacked the camp on four sides, on a signal given by Botzaris, the brave commander

himself penetrated, with 500 Suliots, to the tent of the pacha; but, at the moment of making the pacha of Delvino prisoner, he received a mortal wound, and his brother Constantine completed the victory. The Turks lost all their artillery and baggage, and the dying Marco exclaimed, at the moment of victory, "Could a Suliot leader die a nobler death?"* The Albanians of the pacha dispersed; he himself returned to Scutari, in consequence of the desertion of the Montenegrins to the Greeks. At the same time, the Turkish fleet, again having the plague on board, left (Aug. 30) the gulf of Patras, and returned to the Archipelago, avoided the Greek islands, delivered Saloniki from its blockade, and returned, in October, to the Dardanelles, after a few indecisive engagements with the Greeks. But bloody quarrels soon broke out between the Hydriots and Spezziots, relative to the division of the booty taken from some vessels. While Livadia and the Morea were threatened, the inhabitants of Athens had fled to the island of Salamis; but Gouras still maintained possession of the Acropolis. The members of government, with the deliberative council, were also at Salamis, from whence they returned to Argos in November, 1823. Mavrocordato conducted a division of the Hydriot fleet to the gulf of Lepanto, in November, and compelled the Barbary fleet, which was blockading Missolonghi, to withdraw. The Acrocorinthus was taken, in November of the same year, by the Greeks, and the last attack of Jussuf Pacha, supported by Mustapha Pacha, on Anatolico and Missolonghi, where Andreas Metaxa commanded, entirely failed, in consequence of the defeat of Mustapha in November, 1823. Mustapha Pacha retreated to Yanina. The campaign was finished; but the partisan war continued in Thessaly and Epirus, and Greek vessels advanced as far as the gulf of Smyrna. The Porte, though much exhausted, still had greater resources for the next campaign (1824) than the Greeks. The peace with Persia (concluded July 28, 1823), and the voluntary submission of the rebellious pacha of St. Jean d'Acre, enabled the Porte to send into Greece the troops from Asia, and those previously stationed in Moldavia and Walachia, which were now evacuated. In Constantinople, the influence of the janizaries on the decrees of the divan had ceased. By the

Marco Botzaris, a Suliot, served in the Ali Pacha restored Suli to him, that he might French army, returned in 1820 to Epirus, where assist him against the Porte.

appointment of Galib Pacha as grandvizier (the fifth since 1821), and of Sadik as reis effendi, in December, 1823, the more moderate party obtained the ascendency. On the other hand, the dissensions among the Greeks daily increased.

A Russian chargé d'affaires in Constantinople, Mr. de Minziaky, tried to restore, in January, 1824, the connexions between the cabinet of St. Petersburg and the Porte, which had been broken off since 1821. The principal subject of negotiation was the complete evacuation of the two principalities of Walachia and Moldavia by the Turkish troops, in conformity with the treaties of Kainardgi, Jassy and Bucharest. The British ambassador, lord Strangford, and the Austrian internuncio, the baron von Ottenfels, supported the demands of Russia. Lord Strangford was treated with great regard by the Porte; for it was owing to British influence that the Porte had been able to conclude its last treaty of peace with the court of Persia (Jan. 28, 1824). But the support which certain societies in England, and individuals, like lord Byron, had given the Greeks, by means of loans, by sending arms, and by assistance in person, made the Porte indignant; and it required (April 9), that the British government should forbid their subjects to take any part in the affairs of the Greeks. In the mean while, the British officers who had fought under the Greek standard, had been recalled to England. The good understanding with Russia appeared still more complete, when a great number of neutral transport ships, Russian, Austrian and others, were hired by the capudan pacha, who sailed, April 28, out of the Dardanelles to destroy Ipsara and Samos. At the same time, Dervish, pacha of Widden, as commander-in-chief of the Ottoman troops, received an order to enter the Morea, whilst the pacha of Negropont, on the coast of Attica, and Omer Vrione (who was afterwards pacha of Saloniki), were to open the campaign on the west coast of Greece. The Porte had succeeded, too, in inducing Mohammed Ali, the viceroy of Egypt, to send from his troops, which had been trained in the European discipline by French officers, 20,000 men, under the command of Ibrahim Pacha, his son, besides a fleet with transport ships, consisting of hired Russian, Austrian, Spanish and Italian vessels, to assist the grand-signior in reducing the Greeks to submission. A fire in Cairo delayed, for some months, the departure of this expedition. In the mean time, after

the glorious issue of the campaigns of 1823, dissensions had broken out anew in Greece. The party of Mavrocordato, which had taken the place of the heads of the Hetaireia, was composed of Hydriot merchants, and the most enlightened men of the nation. It endeavored to establish an orderly and legal administration, and to regulate the finances. Mavrocordato was president of the legislative body; but, retiring from the military party, which had the preponderance in the Morea, he went towards Western Greece. The heads of that military party, the capitani, appeared to wish to take the places of the former Turkish pachas, and oppressors of the country. One of the most eminent of this party was Colocotroni, who, through the fame of his victories (in 1822), was the most powerful in the executive council. From Tripolizza, in the midst of the peninsula, his faction extended itself on all sides. Panos, his son, commanded at Nauplia (Napoli di Romania), the seat of government. The garrison of the Acrocorinthus consisted of the adherents of that bold, proud and rich general. After Colocotroni, came Mavromichalis, formerly bey of the Mainots, and now the nominal president of the executive council. Negris, the former minister of foreign affairs, had joined Ulysses, who maintained himself in Athens and Eastern Greece, almost independently of the central government. These capitani raised, without regard to rules and orders, all that they wanted for themselves and their soldiers; so that only in the marine at Hydra, and in Western Greece, where Mavrocordato commanded, a well ordered government was maintained. In MissoLonghi, lord Byron was taking an active part. He and colonel Stanhope organized the artillery. Byron himself established schools and printing-offices. In the mean time, the legislative senate at Kranidi (on the eastern shore of the gulf of Argolis) endeavored to check the arbitrary proceedings of the executive council. The report of the causes of complaint against the president, Mavromichalis, and other counsellors (Dec. 31, 1823), disclosed such striking instances of arbitrary and selfish conduct, that the senate dissolved the existing executive council, and named, as the members of the new, the Hydriot George Conduriotti as president, and the Spezziot Panajotis Botassis as vice-president. Both were good patriots, and the most influential men of their islands, but without distinguished talents. John Coletti was the third, and Nicholas Londos