The Greece of the Greeks

Front matter

KING OP GREECE THE GREECE O F THE GREEKS: BY G. A. PERDICARIS, A.M. I. ATE Œcmsttl of tlje WLmttb Stales at Sttljens. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. "The Deity has changed to nothing these cities; but I am not surprised thereby, for I know that Destiny is ever striving to produce something new, and changes the weak a_s well as the strong, by the power of Necessity." Patjsanias. NEW-YORK: PAINE & BURGESS, 62 JOHN STREET. 18 45. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, BY G. A. PERDICARIS, A.M. In the Clerk's Office of the District Couit for the Southern District of N. York. DE DIC AT E D TO THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN THE FATE OF GREECE. In submitting to you the following pages, it is, perhaps, unnecessary to remark that the subject is neither new nor neglected. Before and since the revolution of 1821, it gave rise to many and important works.

The well known and justly-appreciated researches of Col. Leak, embody all that was known — in the beginning of the present century — of the topo graphy and the antiquities of Greece ; and so thorough -has he done his work, that appa rently there is hardly a sheaf or an ear for the hand of the gleaner. Since the days of Col.

Preface

. IV Leak, however, and those illustrious scholars who preceded him, Greece has become the theatre of great and important events. The struggle and the subsequent independence of the Greeks, called into existence new objects of interest, and a new order of writers. But these, like those who went before them, appear to be better acquainted with the ancient than the modern Greeks, and — with a few honourable exceptions — they belong to that noble band who have been valorously engaged in fighting over the memorable battles of Platea and of Marathon. It is not, of course, intended, by these remarks, to convey the idea that the works alluded to are deficient in merit, or wanting in interest ; they are all excellent in their way, but their authors, though imbued, to a greater or less degree, with the spirit of ancient Greece, were but little acquainted with the language and the genius of the modern Greeks ; and their books are but ill calculated to supply us with a work, the avowed object of which, would be to acquaint us with the present condition of

PREFACE.

V Greece and the Greeks. This is the. main ob ject of the following work, and the reader will allow me to remark — by way of explanation — that on my return to my native land, and dur ing my residence in the capital of the kingdom as American Consul, it was my good fortune to become acquainted with almost all the noted Greeks of the day, and through them with the events of the past and the prospects of the future. Mere historical facts are the property of all, but my views and opinions on men and things, though expressed by myself, are to be regarded as the views and the opinions of the Greeks in general — in this respect mv Greece is " the Greece of*the Greeks." It was not, of course, possible, while travel ling over the classical and hallowed scenes of ancient Greece, to resist the temptation of pay ing them a passing tribute.

This was neither possible nor desirable, but my main object be ing the condition of modern Greece, I have confined myself to the narration of such events as form a portion of her history, and to the VI

PREFACE.

. description of those institutions and internal resources, by means of which she must subsist or perish. My residence in Greece was prior to the adoption of her constitution, but I have watch ed the changes that have taken place, and the more important events of the day are embodied in the notes of this work. N. B. It was the intention of the author and his pub lishers to have printed the first and second volumes of this work simultaneously, but unfortunately the fire of the With October destroyed the copy, proof-sheets, and plates, and has thus rendered it necessary to postpone its publication for a few weeks. It is in progress, and will be out as soon as possible. INTRODUCTORY. As a preliminary step to what is to follow, it may be well to preface my remarks by a few comments on the history of the existing government, which it will be recollected was imposed upon the country, not so much by the choice of the Greeks, as by a combination of circumstances they could not well avoid, — by their exhausted condition, their dissensions, and their proximity to those pow erful monarchies, who, having failed to subject tbe rebels to their lawful masters, assumed the charac ter of friends, and used their efforts not only in bring ing the struggle to a close, but in establishing tbe divine institution of kings in Greece ; an enterprise to the accomplishment of which, they were greatly aided by the unfortunate failures of those provisional governments which rose and sank at different times in the course of the revolution.

Count Capodistrias was provisionally the gov ernor of Greece. While the choice of a king for the newly established state was being made, the Allied INTRODUCTORY. Powers having failed* in their negociattons with Prince Leopold, turned their attention to other quarters; and on the seventh of May, 1832, "the courts of France, England, and Russia, exercising thc power, conveyed to them by the Greek nation to make choice of a sovereign — raised to the rank of an independent state — and being desirous to give to that country a fresh proof of their friendly dispo sition, by the election of a prince descended from a royal house, the friendship and alliance of which cannot fail to be of essential service to Greece, and which has already acquired claims to her esteem and gratitude, have resolved to offer the crown of the new Greek State to the Prince Frederick Otho, of Bavaria, second son of His Majesty the King of Bavaria."

In perusing the above preamble of the treaty, by virtue of which the sovereignty of Greece was con ferred upon King Otho, one is led to believe that the rights and the interests of the people would occupy a prominent place in the body of this important state paper, but from the preamble to the closing sentence he finds, that while the privileges and the prerogatives of the throne and the monarch, are des cribed and defined with tedious circumlocution, the unalienable rights of Greece and the Greeks are passed in silence, and that too by those who were * Prince Leopold though willing to be the king of Greece was not willing to be imposed upon the Greeks, and it was on this ground that he resigned the crown which he at first accepted. INTRODUCTORY. 9 "desirous to give to that country a fresh proof of their friendly disposition."

It is not to be supposed for a moment that the Greeks could be so indifferent to their interests, so lost to natioual pride, as to transfer themselves from Sultan Mahmoud to King Otho unconditionally, nor is it to be taken for granted that the Protecting Powers were left in ignorance as to the wishes of the Greeks on this subject ; on the contrary, the people of that country had no idea of exchanging masters, and the language of the European Repre sentatives, who held their conference at Poros sub sequent to the battle of Navarino, and who were the medium of communication between the Greek nation and the Allies, is clear and comprehensive. " The Representatives," say they to these courts, "in proposing the establishment of an hereditary government in Greece, do not mean to say that the Greeks shall have no part in the Legislative branch ; because even during the days of the Turks they had the right of choosing their legal authorities, and their Primates enjoyed in general the right of apportioning the taxes, which were levied upon the country by the Porte.

Finally the principle of repre sentative government has been adhered to for the last eight years, and it has blended itself with their new existence. The Representatives think that it will be both unjust and dangerous to deprive the people of this right; and it is believed, that by con necting it with the succession of the highest au- INTRODUCTORY. thority in the state, the desires of the Greeks will be complied with to the utmost, and the public or der—the great object of the Allies in behalf of Greece — will then be established on a permanent basis."* These views and suggestions were made the subject of deliberations between the contracting par ties — i. e. the Plenipotentiaries of the Allies and the minister of Bavaria, and in addition to the promises of the king of Bavaria to the Greeks, that their government was to be based on representative principles, the assurances of his minister to the members of the conference strengthens the assumption that the government of Greece was to be a Constitution al Monarchy, — "The individuals," he says, "who are to surround the monarch, and the principles in which he will be instructed, will give the pledge, that instead of wishing to establish in Greece an absolute and despotic government, he will consider it his glory to rule by just laws."

Agreeably to this understanding on the part of the contracting parties, the foreign ministers at Napoli were informed by their superiors, "that one ofthe first objects of the Regency would be to con voke the national assembly, in order to receive the King, to express to him the devotion of Greece, and to unite her with him who is to rule her destinies. This assembly can choose from its members a com- * The above, and the extracts that are to follow, are translated from the Greek, the original not being at hand. INTRODUCTORY. mittee in order to prepare, together with the Re gency, the definite constitution of the kingdom, which being regulated by the joint consent of the nation and the king — when the boundaries of Greece shall have been definitively settled, and her resources better known, — will justify without any doubt her necessities, her prayers, and her interests."

The Regency, however, whose first object, according to the language of the Protocols, was the convocation of the national assembly and the subse quent formation of the Constitution, thought fit to take a somewhat circuitous route, and contrary to the belief of the Protecting Powers, and the expectations of the Greeks, they directed their attention to the establishment of an irresponsible and absolute monarchy, which, however well it may be adapted to the temper and the interest of such a people as the Bavarians, was so foreign to the feelings and the genius of the Greeks as to awaken the indignation of the people, and give rise to a desperate and systematic opposition.

To the opposition of the Greeks was added the intrigues and the machinations of the foreign Rep resentatives, who fortunately happened to differ with the Regency and each other in matters where in they chose to consider themselves as parties, and in process of time this overthrew the Regency and the Premier, but while the members of the Regen cy — Count Armansperg and his successor — departed the country, with a goodly portion of gold and INTRODUCTORY. glory, the evils they had imported from their hyperborean father-land were left behind them for the special benefit of the Greeks, and " after the lapse of more than ten years, and an expenditure of thirty millions of dollars, the interests of the country were so completely neglected, that to this mo ment (1842) Greece is left with the old foot-paths for public roads — with her forts filled with mud — with the greater part of her domain uncultivated — with many of her rich plains and valleys in a state of progressive desolation — with some few schools and seminaries of learning, supported principally by private contribution, and denied the benefit of a vigilant superintendence ; with churches more fit for stables than for temples of religion — with sup pressed monasteries — with a clergy in rags — with a navy inferior to the one in the days of Capodis trias — with a population small enough, and yet di minishing by constant emigrations to Turkey — with many and rich uniforms, but without a manu facturing establishment — with plenty of commer cial treaties, but with a commerce more poor and more insignificant than ever — with a bank which promises wonders, and on the other hand with no resources and no public credit." — Minerva.

The above picture of Greece, though somewhat overdrawn and highly coloured in its general out lines, is by no means at variance with the actual state of things at the time ; and the crisis which it foretold was so near and so unavoidable, that the budget for INTRODUCTORY. 1843 showed a revenue of 15,669,795 drachmas against an expenditure of 18.666,582 drachmas, thus leaving a deficit of 2,996,637 drachmas, which it was feared would be increased to more than 6,000,000 of drachmas, inasmuch as it was thought that the government would hardly realize more than 12,000,000 of drachmas from the revenue of the realm. To the question of Constitution or no Constitu tion, was added the stubborn inquiry, how and where was a million of dollars to be found? To increase the revenue by additional taxation or di minish the expenditure to that amount, was thought equally dangerous and equally unadvisable ; and the only remedy was to make use of the public credit which Mr. Ralli, the then minister of finance considered "asthe great economical principle of modern civilization."

The report of this ingenious functionary was very convincing, and when the time of meeting the payment for the interest and sinking fund of the 60,000,000 of francs had arrived, and the ministers of the Allied Powers began to press the claims of their respective courts, the govern ment of Greece thought it a fitting opportunity to essay the application of the great principle which was so happily and so opportunely discovered by Mr. Ralli, and accordingly, it hastened to inform its royal creditors first, that the government of His Hel lenic Majesty was not in condition to meet the pay ment of the instalments due on the first of March, INTRODUCTORY. 1843, and second, that in order to meet them here after it was necessary to be aided by a new loan in the name of Greece, and under the guarantee of her Protectors.

This was at best but an indirect intimation that the continuance of the monarchy, and with it the interest of the creditors, could not be maintain ed without further aid from those who were supposed to be deeply concerned in the maintenance of her authority and credit. This was both ingenious and just, but at the time the Allied Powers happened to be out of humour and while conjointly they refused their compliance to this first demand, the Russian Court took occasion to advise the government of His Hellenic Majesty to anticipate. the interference of the Protecting Powers by a prompt discharge of its obligations, for its inability or unwillingness to pay its debts would impose upon the Allied Powers the painful necessity of taking into consideration not only the Present, which was a mere money question, but the Future, which involved greater and more serious questions; for the Protecting Powers "would never consent to abandon to the caprices of fortune a work which they themselves had created, and for the continuance of which they had pledged their joint support !"

The import of this remarkable note was too pointed and too menacing to be mistaken, and while the Greek government was endeavouring to equal- INTRODUCTORY. ize its expenses with its revenue, the cabinets of England, France, and Russia were in no way disposed to await theresult, and the affairs of Greece, after the lapse of ten years, became once more the subject of foreign interference, and consequently, her liberties — such as they were — once more in danger ! The Greeks, though they had no objection to a crisis, the natural consequence of which, would re sult in teaching the government its dependence upon the people, were by no means willing to find themselves in the hands of their Protectors, and therefore, as soon as they found out that their con fidence in the existing system had given way, the Greeks very adroitly took the matter into their own hands, and by one master stroke saved their coun try from its perilous and degraded condition.

The revolution of September 3, 1843, was an act worthy the better days of Greece. It accomplished a great good without giving rise to evil conse quences, and while the moderation of the people was happily seconded by the wisdom of their youthful king, the great popular movement of a single day ended in the acquisition of a social com pact, which is destined to protect, for ages to come, the prerogatives of the throne and the rights of the nation. The change from an absolute to a constitutional government is as great as it is important, and it is to be hoped that the operation of the new system, will be such as to justify the expectations of its INTRODUCTORY. authors and their friends. In expressing this hope we are not without our misgivings. The experience of all ages has shown, that the adaptation is by far more difficult than the framing of a Constitution, and this is the more so in the case of the Greeks, who, with an expensive government, have to con tend with a public debt amounting to fifty-four millions of dollars, and, what is still worse than this, with the manifold and degrading evils of fo reign interference.

The same baneful influences which beset the national councils at Pronea are coiling their ugly forms around the constitutional government of Greece, and unwilling as we may be, we are compelled to acknowledge that no form of government can give a guarantee for peace and se curity in Greece, so long as her people, her assem blies, and her courts are distracted by the Machia valian intrigues of the foreign diplomatists. Previous to the revolution of 1843, and during the impending danger of an approaching crisis, the Greeks sought to explain the causes of their mis fortunes, and for reasons better known to them than to us, — they chose to whip the saddle when the donkey was in fault.

They laid the blame upon the Bavarians, upon those " who " — to use the lan guage of " Minerva " — " disbanded the veterans of Greece, and gave the bread of her liberators to worthless mercenaries, who led to the slaughter house the heroes of her revolution, and exiled in foreign missions the best of her statesmen, — who INTRODUCTORY. shackled the press, oppressed the people with taxes, wasted the loan and the revenue, gave the national lands to strangers, weakened the interest of her Protectors, dampened the sympathies of her friends, disregarded the Protocols, despised the advice of kings, persecuted the Constitution, and introduced into the country that system of government, which their sovereign, the King of Bavaria, stigmatized as ' absolute and despotic' " The Bavarians and their worthless partizans, many of whom we regret to say were Greeks, were undoubtedly the agents, but they cannot be mistaken for the authors of this miserable and dis graceful farce : the real causes are to be sought in the memorable treaty of the 7th of May, 1832, be tween the Minister of Bavaria on one part, and the Plenipotentiaries of England, France, and Russia on the other.

By virtue of this memorable state paper the sovereignty of Greece was conferred up on King Otho, and it was further agreed between the contracting parties, that His Majesty, beingthen a minor, was to proceed to his kingdom under the tutelage of three Regents, not one of whom was to be a Greek, who besides a loan of sixty millions of francs, were to have a mercenary army of four thousand men ! In the meantime Greece and the Greeks, who occupy so prominent a place in the preamble of the treaty, are excluded from the body of the instrument. We know by whom they are to be governed, but so far as the treaty is concern- INTRODUCTORY. ed, there is no express stipulation, no, not even a distant intimation how they are to be governed, and in scrutinizing the instrument by which they are bound over like West India apprentices, we find little else besides the seeds of military and di plomatic despotism.

It has already been stated that the professed ob ject of the Allies was the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, and in support of this fact we have brought in the early portion of these remarks sufficient evidence ; but if this were the real object, we ask why and for what purpose was this all-important point excluded from the body of the treaty 1 Why was Greece sold without a consideration 1 Was it that she may try the beauties of those chains which were forged in the capital of England, and drawn to the flesh by the master hands of Talleyrand, Lieven, and Palmerston ?* Admitting that this fatal omission on the part of the above functionaries was an oversight for which thc Allies are not to be held as responsible; even then, it is difficult to exculpate the guardians of Greece from the participation in those wrongs and * Previous to the late revolution, Messrs. Boring and Coch ran obliged Lord Palmerston to admit "that the sanguine expectation of H. M.'s government had not been fulfilled, as Greece was still without a representative constitution," but it is left to the history of the times to tell him that the " sanguine ex pectations of H. M. government," and those of the English people were defeated by the neglect and agency of his Lordship.

INTRODUCTORY. 19 insults which she suffered, while under the protec tion of those who on one hand assumed the rights and the obligations of Protectors, and on the other, forgetting what was due to themselves and to poor Greece, allowed her for the space of ten years to wear the polished chains and burnished manacles of «ivilized servitude and refined degradation, to be blessed with a king — august Protectors, — and yet to have no will and no voice in her own affairs ! Without entering into the why and the wherefore we must be allowed to say that the evil here com plained of was not only created but nurtured by the consent of the Allied Powers, and those who are in any way cognizant of the affairs of Greece, are also acquainted with the historical fact that the existence of an irresponsible government, — the iniquitous work of Palmerston, Talleyrand, and Lieven, — would have sunk under its own weight had it been left without farther aid, and without the active co-operation of the respective representatives of France, England and Russia in the Court of Greece, who to other wrongs and other humiliations added their petty intrigues and unwarranta ble interference in the affairs of an independent state.

The history of the last fifty years has recorded many wrongs — many acts of oppression and injus tice ; but neither the history of the present nor the annals of ancient and modern times can afford us a more terrible example of national vassalage INTRODUCTORY. than that which we see in the case of Greece, and which portrays in such living colours the beauties of an exotic policy which Mr. Macauley has justly characterized as the worst species of slavery. The sacrifices of Greece — the full hecatombs — which she laid on the altar of liberty, — the deep sympathy which her suffering and heroic courage created, in the minds of the civilized communities of the world, are still fresh in our memory, and we can hardly dissipate our blush or smother our indignation, when with such glorious antecedents, we find such wretched consequences — when in the place of that substantial good which animated the heroes of Greece, and which was anticipated by her people and her friends, we have a government which re quires from two to three millions of dollars for its support, but which at the same time is swayed to and fro by some one ofthe three potent and irresponsible plenipotentiaries of England, France and Russia!

Is there anything more humiliating or more degrading than this?* We are unwilling to charge nations and govern- * The wrong is so great and so unjust, that neither of the governments are willing to acknowledge its existence. Lord Aber deen and Mons. Guizot have both and repeatedly disavowed the right and intention of interference in the affairs of Greece, and yet their respective ministers, who if not recalled would have been dismissed in disgrace, from the seat of our government for one half of their acts in Greece— are to this day allowed to play in the court of King Otho the part of Hercules Furens. INTRODUCTORY. ments who have contributed so largely to the independence of Greece, with ill intentions towards her — we are willing to believe their object was to serve her interests without injury or injustice to them selves — but having done this much, we are not willing to subscribe either to the justice or expedi ency of a policy which has worked so much of mischief to poor Greece — so much of disgrace to her protectors !

The mutual jealousies of the Al lied Powers, can in no way be a valid reason for their interference in the affairs of an independent nation, nor can the supposed or real inability of the Greeks to govern themselves, impose upon strangers the necessity of forcing their mischievous aid upon others. The allied sovereigns are in no way responsible for the conduct of Greece : and having no responsibility they have no right of supremacy. It is true they have assumed the title of Protectors, and Greece, in her days of sorrow, submitted to it. But the age of tutelage is over, and it is high time they had from Greece the reply her Diogenes gave to Alexander the Great when he asked what favour he should confer upon the Philosopher.

Chapter I. Arrival At Athens

On the first of November, 1837, we left the har bour of Boston ; and after a voyage of more than sixty days, interrupted only by a short and pleasant stay of two weeks in the beautiful island of Malta, we were allowed to add to other delights, the plea sure of seeing our long voyage at an end ; of find ing ourselves among the islands, " Which, seen from far Colona's height, Makes glad the heart that hails the sight." In the afternoon of the sixth of January, 1838, we had the island of Salamis before us, — Ægina to the left, and the broken and varied coast of Attica to the right. We were near enough to the island of Ægina to enjoy a passing view of the temple of the Panhellenian Jupiter ; but the light southerly wind, which had been blowing in the early part of the day, had veiled the more distant objects of the coast in a mist, which served to heighten our interest, by giving full scope to our imaginations.

We were on the look-out for wonders ; and some of us were so far excited with the mere idea of being in sight of Attica, that a ruined wind-mill was mistaken for the "Athenian's grave" — the tomb of Themistocles ! It was late in the afternoon when the port of the Piræus opened before us, and we had barely time to see our way through the narrow entrance of this singular but beautiful basin, before we were over taken by the evening shades. The port of the Piræus is so locked in by the rocky skirts of Mu nichia and Mount Ægaleos, that, in approaching it, we saw the tall masts of the ships in the port long before we could see how we were to add our Alexandros to their number ; and we were not a little surprised and delighted, when a single turn brought us into the port, which stood before us like a revealed mystery.

The passage, or space between the two moles, though full sixty yards wide, and deep enough for the largest vessels, appeared exceedingly narrow; and as our ship approached the entrance, we all gathered on the prow, in order to watch its passage through these artificial Symplegadies. The moles on each side of the entrance are above water, and though there is but little doubt that they belong to the old fortifications, the towers by which they were once surmounted have disappear ed, and have given place to the light-houses of the port. Formerly the Piræus consisted of three ports, one within another, viz. : the port of Zea, the Aphrodisium, and, the innermost of all, the port of Cantharus. It is highly probable that they were all fortified, and so formed as to be easily closed against an enemy; but the only remains of the old fortifications, are the two moles which guarded the principal, or outward, entrance of the port.

The innermost of the three inclosures, which is said to have served as the arsenal of the Athenians, was, in process of time, partially filled, and the present government has thought fit to close it entirely. The other two ports, however, have suffered but little, and they both form the present port of the Piræus, — which, though by no means as spacious as other ports in the kingdom of Greece, is certainly one of the safest, and has water enough not only "for vessels as large as frigates," but for the largest men-of-war. It being too late to go to Athens, Ave had to remain on board the Alexandras, and amuse our selves either in making preparations for the event which had been so long anticipated, or in walking up and down the deck, and enjoying a scene which was in perfect contrast with the land on the other side of the Atlantic.