We think we may now ask: Are the Greeks fit for a representative system of government? We should like to hear the reasons of those who hold the opinion, that they are not yet able to give an opinion on the best means of improving their own country, and the most advantageous mode of raising the necessary revenue.
We must now conclude with a few remarks on the line of conduct towards the Greeks which has been pursued by the three protecting powers. We do not, however, propose entering at any length on the subject, as we have no other object than that of rendering our preceding observations more clear to our readers. We are persuaded that the policy of interfering as little as possible in the affairs of Greece, which has been adopted, and impartially acted on by Lord Aberdeen, is the true policy of Great Britain.
But in reviewing the general position of the Greek state, it must not be forgotten that the Greek people have had communications with the great powers of Europe of a nature very different from those which existed between the protecting powers and King Otho. As soon as it became evident that Turkey could not suppress the Greek revolution without suffering most seriously from the diminution of her resources, Russia and England began to perceive that it would be a matter of some importance to secure the good-will of the Greek population. The Greeks scattered over the countries in the Levant, amount to about five millions, and they are the most active and intelligent portion of the population of the greater part of the provinces in which they dwell. The declining state of the Ottoman empire, and the warlike spirit of the Greek mountaineers and sailors, induced both Russia and England to commence bidding for the favour of the insurgents. In 1822 the deputy sent by the Greeks to solicit the compassion of the European ministers assembled at Verona, was not allowed to approach the Congress. But the successful resistance of the Greeks to the whole strength of the Ottoman empire for two years, induced Russia to communicate a memoir to the European cabinets in 1824, proposing that the Greek population then in arms should receive a separate, though independent, political existence. This indiscreet proposition awakened the jealousy of England, as indicating the immense importance attached by Russia to securing the good-will of the Greeks. England immediately outbid the Czar for their favour, by recognising the validity of their blockades of the Turkish fortresses, thus virtually acknowledging the existence of the Greek state. The other European powers were compelled most unwillingly to follow the example of Great Britain. Mr Canning, however, in order to place the question on some public footing, laid down the principles on which the British cabinet was determined to act, in a communication to the Greek government, dated in the month of December 1824. This document declares that the British government will observe the strictest neutrality with reference to the war; while with regard to the intermediate state of independence and subjection proposed in the Russian memorial, it adds that, as it has been rejected by both parties, it is needless to discuss its advantages or defects. It also assured the Greeks that Great Britain would take no part in any attempt to compel them by force to adopt a plan of pacification contrary to their wishes.
France now thought fit to enter on the field. According to the invariable principle of modern French diplomacy, she made no definite proposition either to the Greeks or the European powers; but she sent semi-official agents into the country, who made great promises to the Greeks if they would choose the Duke de Nemours, the second son of the Duke d'Orleans, now King Louis Philippe, to be sovereign of Greece. The Greeks had seen something too substantial on the part of Russia and England to follow this Gallic will-o'-the-wisp. But England and Russia, in order to brush all the cobwebs of French intrigue from a question which appeared to them too important to be dealt with any longer by unauthorized agents, signed a protocol at St Petersburg on the 4th April 1826, engaging to use their good offices with the Sultan to put an end to the war. The Duke of Wellington himself negotiated the signature of this protocol, and it is one of the numerous services he has rendered to his country and to Europe, as the Greek question threatened to disturb the peace of the East. France, as well as Austria, refused to join, until it became evident that the two powers were taking active measures to carry their decisions into effect, when France gave in her adhesion, and the treaty of the 6th of July 1827, was signed at London by France, Great Britain, and Russia.
Events soon ran away with calculations. The Turkish fleet was destroyed at Navarino on the 20th October 1827, the anniversary (if we may trust Mitford's History of Greece) of the battle of Salamis. France now embarked in the cause, determined to outbid her allies, and sent an expedition to the Morea, under Marshal Maison, to drive out the troops of Ibrahim Pasha. Capo d'Istria assumed the absolute direction of political affairs, and by his Russian partizanship and anti-Anglican prejudices, plunged Greece in a new revolution, when his personal oppression of the family of Mauromichalis caused his assassination. King Otho was then selected as king of Greece, and the consent of the Greeks was obtained to his appointment by a loan to the new monarch of £.2,400,000 sterling, and by a good deal of intrigue and intimidation at the assembly of Pronia.[F] The Greeks, however, had already solemnly informed the allied powers, that the acts of their national assemblies, consolidating the institutions of the Greek state, and by securing the liberties of the Greek people, "were as precious to Greece as her existence itself;" and the protecting powers had consecrated their engagement to support these institutions, by annexing this declaration to their protocol of the 22d March 1830.[G]
[Footnote F: Several national assemblies have been held in Greece. The acts of the following have been printed in a collection composed of several volumes. The first was held at Pidhavro, near Epidaurus, of which its name is a corruption, in 1822; the others at Astros in 1823, at Epidaurus in 1826, at Troezene in 1827, at Argos in 1830 and the last at Pronia, near Nauplia, in 1832.]
[Footnote G: Annex A, No. 9.]
The three allied powers have not displayed more union in their councils, since the selection of King Otho, than they did before his appointment. In one thing alone they have been unanimous; but unfortunately this has been to forget their engagements to the Greek people, to see that the institutions and liberties of Greece were to be respected. England and France have, however, displayed at times some compunction on the subject; but, unluckily for the Greeks, their consciences did not prick them at the same moment. At one time the Duke de Broglie proposed that Greece should be reinstated in the enjoyment of her free institutions, but Lord Palmerston declared, that, her government being very anti-Russian at the time, institutions and liberty were a mere secondary matter, and he did not think the Greeks required such luxuries. Times, however, changed, and King Otho, displaying considerably more affection for Russia than for England—England conceived it necessary to propose, at one of the conferences in London on the affairs of Greece, that the Greeks should be called, in virtue of their national institutions, to exercise a control over the lavish and injudicious expenditure of the revenues of the kingdom by the royal government. But Russia and France, though admitting the incapacity of the king's government, declared that they considered it better to send commissioners named by the protecting powers, to control his Hellenic majesty's expenses. Russia, indeed, distinctly declared she would not allow the constitutional question to be discussed in the conferences at the Foreign Office, and Lord Palmerston, with unusual meekness, submitted. France, every ready to play a great game in small matters, really sent a commissioner to Greece, to control King Otho's expenses; but his Hellenic majesty soon gave proofs of how grievously the Morning Chronicle had mistaken his abilities. He gave the French commissioner a few dinners, a large star, and a good place at all court pageants in which he could display the uniform of Louis Philippe to advantage, and thereby made the commissioner the same as one of his own ministers. England and Russia kept aloof in stern disapprobation of this paltry comedy.
The last farthing of the loan has now been expended, and the protecting powers have intimated to King Otho, in very strong terns, that he must immediately commence paying the interest and sinking fund, due in terms of the treaty which placed the crown of Greece on his head. The whole burden of this payment, of course, falls on the Greek people, who, we have already shown, have suffered enough from the government of King Otho, without this aggravation of their misery. Is it, we ask, just that the Greeks should be compelled to pay sums expended on decorations to European statesmen, pensions to Bavarian ministers, staff appointments to French engineer officers, and ambassadors at foreign courts, when they never were allowed even to express their conviction of the folly of these measures, except by the public press? The truth is, that the loan was wasted, and the amount now to be repaid by Greece was very considerably increased by the allied powers themselves, who neglected to enforce the provisions of the very treaty they now call upon the Greeks to execute, though not a party to it. King Otho borrowed largely from Bavaria, as well as from the protecting powers—he was at liberty to do so without the allies attempting to interfere. But he was not entitled to repay any part of this loan from the revenues of Greece, until the claims of the protecting powers were satisfied. So says the treaty.
The allies were bound, also, to restrict the auxiliary corps of Bavarians to 3000 men; yet they allowed King Otho to assemble round his person, at one time, upwards of 6000 Bavarian troops, and a very great number of civil officers and forest guards. The King of Bavaria, when he was anxious to secure the throne for his son, promised "that limited furloughs should be granted to Bavarian officers, and their pay continued to them. This," says his Majesty, "will greatly relieve the Greek treasury, by providing for the service of the state officers of experience, possessing their own means of subsistence without any charge upon the country." Now, the allies knew that every Bavarian officer who put his foot in Greece, received the pay of a higher rank than he previously held in Bavaria from the Greek treasury. Is it, then, an equal application of the principles of justice to king and people, to compel the Greeks to pay for the violation of the King of Bavaria's engagement?[H]