*
I refuse my pension.
When I was turned out of the ministry, my pension as a minister of State was not restored to me; I did not claim it; but M. de Villèle, upon an observation of the King's, thought of sending me a new warrant for that pension through M. de Peyronnet[270]. I refused it. Either I was entitled to my former pension, or else I was not entitled to it: in the first case I had no need for a new warrant; in the second, I did not wish to become the pensioner of the President of the Council.
The Hellenes threw off the yoke: a Greek Committee was formed in Paris, of which I was a member. The committee came together at M. Ternaux'[271] on the Place des Victoires. The members used to arrive one after the other at the meeting-place. M. le Général Sébastiani declared, when he had sat down, that it was a "big affair;" he made it a long one: this displeased our practical chairman, M. Ternaux, who would certainly have made a shawl for Aspasia, but who would not have wasted his time with her. The committee suffered from the dispatches of M. Fabvier; he scolded us roundly; he held us responsible for whatever did not go according to his views, us, who had not won the Battle of Marathon. I devoted myself to the liberty of Greece: it seemed to me that I was fulfilling a duty towards a mother. I wrote a Note; I addressed myself to the successors of the Tsar of Russia, as I had addressed myself to him at Verona. The Note was printed and subsequently reprinted at the head of the Itinéraire.
I laboured to the same purpose in the House of Peers, to set a political body going. The following note from M. Molé shows the obstacles which I encountered and the circuitous methods which I was obliged to employ:
"You will find us all at the opening to-morrow, ready to fly in your footsteps: I shall write to Lainé if I do not see him. He must be allowed only to expect a few sentences about the Greeks; but take care that you are not kept strictly within the limits of all amendments, and that, relying on the rules, they do not refuse to hear you. Perhaps they will tell you to lay your motion on the table: you might then do so subsidiarily and after having said all that you have to say. Pasquier has been rather unwell, and I fear that he will not be on his legs by to-morrow. As for the ballot, we shall have it. What is worth more than all this is the arrangement which you have made with your publishers. It is a fine thing to recover by one's talent all that which the injustice and ingratitude of men have taken from us.
"Yours while life lasts,
"Molé."
Greece has become free from the yoke of Islamism; but, instead of a federal republic, as I wished, a Bavarian monarchy[272] has been set up at Athens. Now, as kings have no memory, I, who had in some small way served the cause of the Greeks, have not heard speak of them since, except in Homer. Greece delivered has not said, "Thank you" to me. She is as ignorant of my name and more so than on the day when I wept on her ruins when crossing her deserts.
Hellas, not yet royal, had been more grateful. Among a few children whom the committee brought up was young Canaris: his father[273], a worthy descendant of the sailors of Mycale[274], wrote him a note which the child translated into French on the blank space at foot. Here is the translation:
"My dear child,
"None of the Greeks has had the same good fortune as yourself: that of being selected by the benevolent society which interests itself in us to learn the duties of man. I gave you birth; but these commendable persons will give you an education which really makes a man. Be very docile to these new fathers, if you wish to give comfort to him who gave you the light. Farewell.
"Your father,
"C. Canaris."
"Nauplia, 5 September 1825.
The Greek Committee.