The Greek Revolution; its origin and progress: together with some remarks on the religion, national character, &c. in Greece

Front matter

THE GREEK REVOLUTION; ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS: TOGETHER WITH BOMB REMARKS ON THE RELIGION, NATIONAL CHARACTER, &c. IN GREECE. BV EDWARD BLAQUIERE, Esq. AUTHOR OP " AN HISTORICAL REVIEW OF THE SPANISH REVOLUTION,*' &o. » I cannot, indeed, conceive a more delightful contemplation, how much more any effort to realize it! than the return of the Greeks to their ancient character and renown. It is animating, therefore, to see the first traces that have as yet appeared of probable resurrection of a people of such high antiquity, buried for so many centuries in the womb of lime, and every virtuous hope must be on the stretch, that the consummation of the miracle may be in our times 1"— Lord Erskine. LONDON : PRINTED FOR G. & W. B. WHITTAKER, AVE-MARIA-LANE. 1824. Shack ell and Arrowsmith, Johnson's Court, Fleet Street.

TO THOMAS GORDON, Esq. OF CAIRNESS, THIS IMPERFECT SKETCH OF EVENTS, IN WHICH HE HAS TAKEN SO DISTINGUISHED AND SO HONOURABLE A PART, IS DEDICATED ; BY HIS DEVOTED AND AFFECTIONATE SERVANT, THE AUTHOR. At Sha, April 5th, 1824.

Preface

. In laying the following sketch of the Greek Revolution before the Public, I venture to observe that, if not so correct in its details as such a work might be rendered, it is the only one hitherto produced in this country, of which the materials have been collected on the spot, and from actors or eye witnesses of the events it pro fesses to describe. In saying thus much, it is hoped that the fact of my having been almost in cessantly occupied in promoting the Greek cause in different counties since my return to England, and of my being called upon to revisit Greece at a very short notice, will be considered as some VI

PREFACE.

. palliation for the imperfections to be found in these pages, as well as the hurried manner in which I have been obliged to terminate the concluding chapter. To those gentlemen of the Public press, with whom my humble efforts to promote the cause of Greece have brought me in communication, my most particular thanks are due ; more especially for the ready and able support I experienced during my late visit to Bristol, Manchester, and Liver pool, for the purpose of exciting sympathy in fa vour of the struggling people of Greece. And here I may be allowed to observe that, while that class of the community, upon which the Greeks had every right to calculate for sympathy and support, seemed insensible to the appeal so often made, the conductors of the daily and periodical press have, with one or two exceptions, uni formly advocated a cause, of which the justice and importance must now be acknowledged by its bitterest enemies.

In deploring the unaccountable fatality which could have prevented the great mass of that sacred profession from coming for ward in aid of this most righteous cause, it would be an act of manifest injustice, were I to omit

PREFACE.

. VII the names of Chatfield, Elliott and many others, whose exertions, whether literary or otherwise, do honor to the priesthood. Nor can I close these remarks, without acknow ledging my obligations to Mr. Gordon, of Cairness, whose extensive knowledge of all that is con nected with the origin and progress of the Greek struggle, not less than his talents as a writer, fitted him more than any one else I could name, to become the historian of the revolution. To Mr. Barker, of Thetford, whose excellent letter to the Rev.Mr. T. S. Hughes, one of the earliest andmost eloquent appeals in behalf of the Greek cause, does him so much credit, and whose unwearied exer tions to excite the active sympathy of individuals throughout the country are entitled to the highest praise, my best thanks are also due ; and if I have not availed myself of the valuable materials placed in my hands by him, to the extent I could have wished, it has arisen solely from the necessity of my leaving England before I could give full de velopement to a subject which I had hoped to be enabled to illustrate in a manner much more ample and satisfactory. THE GREEK REVOLUTION, Ssc.

Chapter I

Historical Anomaly. — Contrast between the Turks and other Conquerors: their Motives of Action. — Capture of Constantinople. — Legitimacy of the Porte — Treatment of the Greek People. — Karatch or Capitation Tax. — Effects of the Crusades. — Conquest of Greece nevercompleted. — Measures of Precaution. — Klepthai. — Russian Influence. — Peter the Great and Catharine II. — War of 1769. — Treaty of Koutchouk-Kainardgi. — Persecutions. — , Ali-Pacha. — Progress of Knowledge and Education among the Greeks. — Their Schools and Colleges. — Commercial Spirit of the Islanders. — Hydra Spezzia and Ipsara. — Origin of the Grecian Navy. Although historians have attempted to account for the success which attended the Mahometan hordes who invaded the East of Europe in the fifteenth century, their being so long suffered to retain conquests made for the avowed purpose of extirpating Christianity, will no doubt be regarded as one of the most extraordinary anomalies in the history of modern times.

Nor is the astonishment excited by this circumstance diminished, B TURKISH ASCENDENCY. when we reflect, that the barbarians who had so easily destroyed a christian empire, have been retrograding in knowledge during the whole period of their usurped dominion, whilst those who were bound to repel them, have boasted a no less rapid advancement in science and civilization. In contemplating the fatal ascendancy of the Turks in Europe, it is impossible not to be forcibly struck by the contrast exhibited in their policy as conquerors, to that of all other nations, ancient or modern. While the victorious armies of Greece and Rome carried laws and the useful arts into conquered countries, the Goths, Vandals, and Tartars, gradually adopted the manners and religion of those whom they had subjugated ; it was reserved for the followers of Mahomet alone, to wage an eternal war with knowledge and virtue.

And if they have not recurred to the system of extermination pursued by the enemies of our Saxon ancestors, or that of Timour and Ghengis Khan in more recent times, it is because they hoped to profit by the labours of those who had the misfortune to become their vassals. When the imbecility and dissensions of the Christian powers enabled the infidels to over-run the provinces which had previously formed the Eastern empire, it is undeniable that their only motive for not destroying the Greek population arose from the certainty of turning the talents and industry of the latter to a profitable account. BREACH OF FAITH. This fact is, therefore, of itself sufficient evidence to prove that the barbarians were the first to establish the right of revolt on the part of the Greeks, whenever it could be effected with any prospect of success.

An indisputable answer is thus given to all that sophistry and prejudice have urged to connect the present struggle with extraneous causes. It is no longer matter of historical doubt that, although the capitulation which preceded the fall of Constantinople, when it surrendered to Mahomet II. in 1543, guaranteed the protection of life, religion and property to the Christians, yet were they given up to indiscriminate slaughter; and so far from there having been a subsequent compact entered into either by the victors or the vanquished, both parties have continued in a state of perfect separation ever since ; while that of the Greek people has been embittered by a slavery more galling and degrading than ever fell to the lot of any nation. Well, therefore, may the Greeks of the present day, found the justice of their insurrection on the very nature of the conquest, and the treatment which has invariably followed in its train.

In reply to those, for such there are, who have gravely descanted on the legitimacy of the Turkish dominion over Greece, it has been very justly asked whether a professedly anti-Christian system of government, and a despot whose most solemn e LEGITIMACY. obligations, religious and political, forbid him from regarding the followers of Christ in any other light than tributary slaves, can pretend to a right, supposed by those who have confer red it on the Sultan, to emanate from the Divinity ? It might also be demanded, whether those who advocate the legitimacy of a system founded on fraud and violence, are not establishing maxims pregnant with danger to the stability of the governments they would fain uphold ? If these facts left any doubt on the unpre judiced, as to the justice of the cause in which the people of Greece are engaged, or on the absurdity of attempting to draw a parallel between them and the struggles of cotemporary nations ; w*e need only look into the page of history, and reflect on the treatment experienced by the Greeks during a captivity of four centuries, a treatment which has been unchanged and unmitigated under every succeeding tyrant, no matter what may have been the modifications of his character or power.

Considered as a degraded caste in every sense of the w*ord, without one solitary guarantee either for life, religion, or property, the only hope held out to those who wished to escape from this intolerable yoke, was in apostatizing from the faith of their fathers : nor is there a single Greek living*. who has attained the age of manhood, under the iron sway of Turkey, that has not also felt the rod of Mahometan oppression. SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. 5 While the establishment and continuance of the Karatch or capitation tax proves, that their lives have been subjected to a yearly ransom, thus paying as it were for leave to exist, it is a fact of incontrovertible notoriety that no bond of fidelity, or oath of allegiance, was ever exacted from the Greek vassals of the Porte. In alluding to the general system of government, a native writer has thus expressed himself.

" Have not thousands of my countrymen been sacrificed to gratify the vindictive spirit, or capricious folly of our tyrants? Have not Pachas, who purchased the right to go vern through bribery and corruption, gone among the devoted people for no earthly object, but that of spoliation and plunder ? Men, under whose rule the possession of property was a crime, and a few thousand piastres, the earnings of a long life, frequently tantamount to a sentence of death. Have not whole communities been deprived of the right of public worship, on the most frivolous pretence, or until some exorbitant demand was satisfied, while many a Christian has been forced to become an apostate on the evidence of a Turk, who had heard him say, he meant to change his faith ? And when vengeance was to be satiated for some imaginary crime or alledged resistance, have not pestilence and famine been brought to the aid of the scymetar and bow-string?"

It would indeed be an endless task to repeat all the grievances brought forward by the Greek CONQUEST INCOMPLETE. people, in justification of their efforts to be re lieved at any price, from a yoke that had become insupportable ; and when it is considered that the millions of human lives sacrificed in the crusades, should have produced no other effect than leaving the descendants of those who had given knowledge and civilization to the rest of Europe to their me lancholy fate, the manner in which the effort to throw off this dreadful yoke has been met by the christian world, must ever be a source of the keenest regret to all the real friends of religion and humanity. Such are a few, and only a few, of the permanent causes which led to the present struggle, and to prove that the conquest on which their oppres sors ground those pretensions of supremacy so frequently put forth since the contest has com menced, was never completed, the Greeks point with pride and exultation to the resistance made by Souli, Maina, Olympus, Candia, and other places, whose unconquerable sons have never ac knowledged the dominion of the infidels since their unprovoked invasion in the fifteenth century.

With respect to the charges of degeneracy and corruption so inconsiderately made against the Greek people, though this may not be the place to refute them, it is yet of importance to observe that, however they may have deplored the succession of calamities commencing with their conquest by the Romans, through the degradation that followed the transfer of the capital to Byzantium, a PRECAUTIONS. degradation which the introduction of Christianity did not diminish, down to the last fatal scene that reduced them to a galling and hopeless bondage, the Greeks never lost sight of their imprescriptible rights, or of their former glory. With these sentiments, and such multiplied causes of discontent, the least of which would justify an appeal to the sword in the most despotic country of Europe, no wonder that hatred should have been engendered on one side, and distrust on the other.

Thus it was, that while the poor christian slave panted for the hour of retribution and deliverance, his infidel master, who at best only considered himself as the temporary occupier of the land, lived in a state of incessant disquietude and alarm. Convinced from fear and tradition, that an explosion was inevitable, the Turks always looked with the utmost jealousy and sus picion on the Greek vassals, while scarcely any apprehensions were entertained from the christians of Armenia, whose manners and habits bore a striking resemblance to their own. Among other measures of precaution adopted in European Greece, whenever any rumour of insurrection was circulated, it was customary for the Turkish pro prietors to abandon the open country, and shut themselves up in the fortresses. If the empire happened to be engaged in foreign war, the chris tians were forced to deliver up their arms.

These arbitrary acts were, however, far from insuring KLEPTHAI. tranquillity, as numerous bands of the hardy and enterprising mountaineers occupied the fastnesses of the woods and inaccessible heights with which the country abounds, and carried on an unceasing warfare under chiefs called Capitani, but who adopted the native appellation of Klepthai, or rob bers, deeming it honorable to accept any designa tion, rather than live in a slavish submission to the enemies of their faith, and the oppressors of their country. Several of these chiefs, who now lead the soldiers of Greece to victory, make it their proudest boast, that their ancestors never submitted to pay tribute, and that as they have them selves never done so, the pretended right of con quest advanced by the Porte is a mere delusion.

Next to the injustice of mixing up the Greek contest with those efforts which have been made by the people of Spain and Italy, to acquire the blessings of freedom, evidently put forth to justify the anti-christian policy of the Holy Alliance, may be ranked the notion that Russian interests or in fluence had any share in stimulating the Greeks of Epirus, the Morea, and Archipelago to rise. When experience had taught the people of Greece, that the expulsion of the Venetians, and degeneracy of the knights of Malta, left them no hope of sym pathy or support from those two powers, * they * The failure of the Venetians and knights of St. John, to make head against the Turks, might be attributed to various causes, but to none so much as their jealousies, and that tendency to degenerate, PETER THE GREAT. naturally cast their eyes towards a nation profess ing the same religion, and there were many circumstances connected with the events which ushered in the last century, that seemed highly favourable to a more intimate connexion.

It will however be seen, that with the most ample means of succouring her ill-fated co-religionists, the in terference of Russia has been a source of infinite calamity to Greece. Peter the Great, having subdued his Swedish opponent, turned all his attention to those who had ever been regarded as the bitter enemies of his power, and although no very effectual measures which led to their ultimate extinction. Scarcely less superstitious and bigotted than the infidels, their general treatment of the Greeks is said to have been very little better. It is true that the love of gain, and ambition of conquest, frequently gave rise to acts of gallantry, both on the part of Venice, and the Knights, as instanced in the defence of Rhodes, Valetta, and during the war of 1684, conducted by Morosini, and which ended in the conquest of the Morea.

When, however, the Greeks saw no hopes of freedom for themselves, they were not very likely to sym pathize, or make common cause, with the new conquerors. It was after Europe had been exhausted by the war of succession, in which Venice contrived to remain neutral, that the Turks succeeded in wresting the Morea from her hands, and, agreeable to the old system, this was carried on as one of extermination. Corinth and Napoli di Romania, which were taken in 1715, made a most spirited resistance, and when captured, every soul, both of the gar rison and inhabitants, was put to the sword. Although the treaty of Passarowitz concluded in 1718, left the Venetians in possession of Prevesa, Vonizza, and one or two points in Dalmatia, these were never turned to account. CATHERINE II. could be adopted for carrying his designs into effect, during a reign in which he was occupied in laying the foundation of a power now become so colossal, it is not to be doubted that the plan of driving the Turks out of Europe originated with the above monarch.

While in pursuance of the grand object which first prompted the invasion of Europe, the Turks omitted no opportunity of attacking Austria, as the readiest way to extend their conquests in Christendom ; the Russian cabinet never lost sight of its own plans with regard to Turkey. The astonishing progress made by Russia, under the fostering administration of the Tzar, whilst his Mahometan rivals were fast sinking into that weakness and decrepitude, which has since overtaken them, was highly favourable to his views ; and the whole reign of Catherine proves how sedulously that extraordinary woman followed up the system traced out by her great predecessor. No sooner, in fact, had she seized the reins of government, than the favourite project, drawn up by the celebrated Marshal Munich,* some years before, was revived ; and had her intentions been more ably supported in the war of 1769, there is every reason to believe, both the Peloponessus * This plan, in which the restoration of the eastern Empire was formally proposed, led to a partial rising of the Greeks, who were, however, abandoned to their fate in the peace of 1739.

WAR OF 1768. 11 and Archipelago would have been wrested from the infidels before its conclusion. One of the first measures of this war, was that of dispatching a fleet into the Mediterranean, together with a body of troops.* The proclama- * The fact of Turkey having gone to war in 1768, to frustrate the designs of Catherine against Poland, is not among the least sin gular of those anomalies which have marked the history of Europe. So far, however, from being able to render the devoted Poles any service, the contest only added to the power of Russia, while it greatly diminished that of the Porte. Were it possible to accord admiration to the most cruel despoiler of Poland, Catherine would deserve it, for the bold and enterprising spirit which prompted her, even against the advice of her ministers, to send a fleet into the Mediterranean from the Baltic- The execution of this plan, which appears to have been entirely due to the Empress, was every way worthy of a successor to Peter the Great ; and such an expedition, undertaken by a nation that had till then been scarcely recognized as a naval power, might well excite the jealousy and astonishment of Europe.

The naval armament consisted of twenty sail of the line, with a proportion of smaller vessels and transports. On reaching the Coast of Greece, in November, 1769, the troops, to the number of 2,500, were landed at Navarin, and were immediately joined by the Mai notes, and all the Greeks who could procure arms ; Mytelene, Naxos, and several other islands were also taken possession of: after this, the ships of war proceeded to the Coast of Asia Minor, and made an attack on the Turkish fleet, which ended in its total destruction. To render success certain, the agents of Catherine had secured a powerful ally for Russia, in Ali Bey, the governor of Egypt, a man from whom the actual ruler of that country, Mehemet Pacha, seems to have derived nearly all his plans for the improvement of that country, and separating it from the jurisdiction of the Porte.

RUSSIAN POLICY. tions issued on this occasion, contained a formal invitation to the Greeks, to rise and shake off the Turkish yoke. This call was instantly obeyed throughout the Morea, and in many of the islands. It has been truly observed of the war, that its issue was not more unfortunate than the opera tions were ill-concerted. Nothing could have been more disastrous to the people of Greece. Abandoned to their fate by the power who had caused them to revolt, an army of fierce Albanians* was sent into the Morea, while the Were it not for the incapacity and indolence of Orloff, whom Catherine, by a strange caprice, appointed to command her fleet, it is supposed the project of liberating Greece, if not of driving them across the Hellespont, would have been realized. It is worthy of remark, that the organization and early successes of the Russian navy was exclusively due to British officers, to whom Catherine gave the utmost encouragement.

The names of Greig, Elphinstone, and Dugdale, are cited by a French biographer of the Empress, as having, by their gallantry and exertions alone, achieved the brilliant victory of Tchesme in this war. When the treaty of Kainardgi put an end to hostilities in 1774, a series of special clauses were introduced, guaranteeing protection to the Greeks who had answered the call of Catherine. * It is stated by Eton, in his Survey, that not content with let ting these merciless hordes loose upon the devoted Greeks, a deli berate proposal was made in the divan, to slaughter them all in cold blood, innocent and guilty, of whatever age or sex ; but that it was successfully opposed by Gazi-Hassan, both from motives of humanity and policy. The chief argument which he used, and which alone carried conviction to his hearers, was — If we kill all PERSECUTIONS. punishment of the Islanders was left to the Capi tan Pacha.

As might be expected, a relentless persecution followed, and continued with little in termission for some years. The result of an effort, on which such bright hopes had been founded, was, that besides the most wide spread devastation throughout the land, it is calculated that not less than one hundred thousand Greeks of every age and sex, either perished by the sword, or were carried into slavery. The increasing decrepitude of the Turks, as proved by the successes of Russia during the war, which terminated with the treaty of Kainardgi, only tended to stimulate Catherine in her project of dismembering Turkey, and placing a Russian Prince on a throne at Constantinople.* Her the Greeks, we shall lose all the capitation they pay. " Even with out such a provocation," says Mr. Eton, " Sultan Mustapha, pre decessor and brother of Abdulhamid, on his accession to the throne, proposed to cut off all the Christians in the empire, and was with difficulty dissuaded from it."

Here the writer very properly asks, " Is this a nation which merits that Britain should enter into a war for its defence ?" * A biographer of Catherine in describing her famous visit to Cherson in 1787, declares that she did not intend to return to the Capital, before her grandson Constantine was placed on the throne of a new Eastern empire, and that nothing but his having con tracted the meazles, added to some unexpected reverses experienced on the Tartar frontier, prevented this scheme from being realized. The triumphal arch erected by order of Potemkin, at the western gate of Cherson, with the following inscription in Greek: " This LEOPOLD. gaining over Leopold of Austria to co-operate in a new war was well calculated to insure success, and had the Austrian contingent performed its part better, there can be no doubt that the Rus sian armyjwould have reached the Turkish capital, whatever the final result of the war might have been.* is the road to Constantinople," proves how little Russia sought to disguise her views.

As to Constantine himself, every possible step was taken to render him popular among the people of Greece. Even his name had a pointed reference to the grand project ; he was nursed by Greek women, brought from Naxos for the express purpose ; the Archduke's dress was Greek, and he was always surrounded by children of that nation, in order to acquire the language, which he soon spoke with great facility. A Grecian cadet corps of two hundred was also formed, destined to become the ground work of a much larger corps. Eton states that, after the mission of Greek patriots who proceeded to St. Petersburgh in 1790, had been most graciously received by the empress, and promised all the assistance they required, they were conducted to the apartments of her grandsons, and on offering to kiss the hand of Alexander the eldest grand duke, he pointed to his brother Constantine, saying, it was to him they were to address themselves : having represented to him the object of their mission, and concluded by doing homage to him as their emperor, he answered them in their own language.

" Go, and let everything be according to your wishes." * It would perhaps be impossible to cite a more glaring error in the diplomatic annals of the last fifty years, than that com mitted by the ministers of England and France, in urging tht Porte to declare against Russia in the first instance, and then leave it to carry on the war single-handed. Had it not been for their subse quent threats, the fate of Turkey was inevitable. ALI PACHA. The rise of Ali Pacha not long after the peace of Kainardgi, rendered the situation of the Greeks more hopeless than ever ; the enterprising and ferocious spirit of this chief had enabled him to extinguish the last remains of christian freedom in Epirus, putting down or expelling numerous bands, who had hitherto bade defiance to the whole power of the Porte.

Nothing could be more fatal to the hopes of Greece than the elevation of Ali ; his vicinity to the Morea enabled him at all times to pour in any number of these barbarous hordes to whom it had recently been given up ; and in order to render such an operation still more easy, all the approaches and passes were occupied by Albanians devoted to his interests. The cruel reign, character and crimes of the Pacha of Yanina are before the public ; it is not perhaps generally known, that a monster whose vices and enormities throw those of Nero and Caligula into the shade, was destined to become the principal instrument for bringing about the great work of Hellenic regeneration. In order to feed his insatiable avarice, the predominant pas sion of Ali, he encouraged his subjects to travel, and form commercial establishments abroad ; and being fully aware that the divan only waited an opportunity for accomplishing his destruction, it was a special part of his policy to crush the most powerful of his Mahometan vassals.

The more effectually to counterbalance their influence, a BREACH OF FAITH. Greek party was formed, even a portion of his body guard was composed of Christians, and towards the close of his sanguinary career, these were the only troops on whom he placed any reliance. If the persecutions which followed the fruitless efforts of 1769, in open defiance of a solemn treaty * and other causes seemed to destroy the * The stipulations of this treaty, as set forth in Article XVII., and the mode in which they were violated, afford so good a speci men of the weight attached to the most solemn compacts by the infidels, that their insertion here, will furnish the best answer that could be given to those who have argued in favour of Turkish legitimacy. " The empire of Russia restores to the Sublime Porte all the islands of the Archipelago which are under its dependance ; and the Sublime Porte, on its part, promises, "I st. To observe sacredly, with respect to the inhabitants of these islands, the conditions stipulated in the first article, concerning a general amnesty and eter nal oblivion of all crimes whatever, committed or suspected, to the prejudice of the Sublime Porte. 2dly.

That neither the Christian religion, nor its churches, shall be exposed to the smallest oppression ; and that no hindrance shall be put to their construction or reparation ; nor shall those who officiate in them b? oppre sed or insulted. 3rdly. That no payment shall be exacted from these islands of the annual taxes to which they were subjected, viz. since the time which they have been under the dependance of the Rus sian empire ; and also, in consideration of the great losses they have suffered during the war, for a period of two years to come, to count from the day of their restoration to the Sublime Porte. 4thly. To permit those families which would quit their country and establish themselves elsewhere, to depart freely with their goods ; and to the end that those families may put their affairs in order, the term of one year is granted to them for this free emigration, count ing from the day of exchanging the present treaty."