successful for the Greeks and Canning probably realized that “the Sultan, harassed by the calls
of a disorganized and decaying Empire would be unable, effectually to withstand the armies of
the Tsar” (Courtney, 376). + bit later, when by the end of 1823 Greeks’ attention is directed to a
civil war and yet the Sultan fails to crush them, Canning became even more resolute and fervent
concerning the Greek issue. In this manner, Isambert claims that the fact that Canning becomes
gradually more attached to the side of the Greeks is not linked to his sympathy towards the
suppressed nation but rather to his conviction that the British could benefit from such a policy.
(lsambert, 148). Therefore, we could say that what Canning tried to do was to adjust his policy
and interests to the new circumstances. Yet, Lord Strangford, the British ambassador at
Constantinople, did not share the same thoughts as his Minister and he was afraid that the new
policy would endanger the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. Nevertheless, what Strangford
failed to see was that the Ottoman Empire had already lost its integrity. So what Strangford, did
was to interpret the instructions of Canning in a somewhat favorable way for the Porte.
Nevertheless, Lord Strangford’s conduct could not escape the attention of G. Canning who in
1824 replaced him with his cousin, Stratford Canning.
Reading the preceding paragraphs dealing with Canning’s policy, we come up with a question
mark: what were the reactions of the other Powers to the British Foreign Secretary’s attitude?
No wonder, it shook both Russia and Austria. Isambert writes about Metternich: “The new
element was to appear in the policy of Metternich in 1823; it is his hatred for Canning and the
cooling of the Austro-English alliance that marked the proceeding years. Meternich and Canning
have a profound dislike for one another: the stubbornness of the former is at the opposite side of
the progressive activity of the latter.” Furthermore, Isambert states that what Metternich did was
to follow simultaneously two diplomatic paths: the official one using it as a front-window and
the other one the secret, the one that could serve his purposes and for which he had employed +.
de Gentz. (Isambert, 161-162).
On the other side there was the Tsar, who understood that what Canning was doing would
inevitably increase the influence of the British in Greece. So, the Tsar decided to take up action
to cut down Canning’s diplomacy. After all “Russia naturally wished to preserve her position as
protector of the Greeks, and to retain the honor of being the first Christian government that
covered her co-religionaries with her orthodox aegis.” (Finley, 31). Accordingly, Tsar
Alexander +, in January 1824, made a proposal to the Powers. This proposal entailed the
establishment of three, autonomous Greek Principalities similar to those Principalities of
+ ldavia and Wallachia. However, this was a rather clumsy step because it blew away the hopes
of the Greeks that the Tsar would help them to create an independent state, and similarly the
project did not satisfy the Sultan either. Furthermore, the Tsar, instead of intimidating Canning
and cease his influence in Greece, enforced it. “+ll historians studying the Greek Revolution
agree that Foreign Office changed its policy towards the agitated Greece from the moment
Russia (9 January 1824) proposed the division of Greece into semi-independent principalities.”
(Kordatos, 1977, 31). Consequently, the Tsar not only failed to strengthen his position, but he
reached the apposite result.
Naturally, Canning did not waste any time: he saw to the publication of the Russian proposal
–which was not supposed to reach the Greeks– at the French newspaper “Le Constitutionnel”
on the 3lst of May. When the Greeks were informed of the plans that the Tsar had for them, much
to his discontent, started orienting their attention to Great Britain.
However, so far I have referred only to what the Foreign Powers did and, to a lesser extent, to
the reactions of the Turks. What about the Greeks, who, after all, were directly interested? Well,
the Greeks were not only directly interested, but also directly influenced by the Conferences,
decisions and objectives of the Great Powers. Already, at the beginning of this paper +
mentioned the hopes of the Greeks which were directed towards Russia. However, gradually
these hopes faded away especially after the Tsar’s project of 1824. The truth is that every Greek
politically involved had each one’s own ideas about where they should ask for help. Kolettis
was said to be pro-French, Mavrokordatos pro-British, Kolokotronis sometimes (at the
beginning) pro-Russian and sometimes pro-British.
Nevertheless, + noticed that these foreign parties prevailed one over the other according to what
each Power represented by these parties, was doing at a given time. + could not say if it is a
mere coincidence the fact that after the Congress of Verona and especially after the Tsar’s
memorandum the British party in Greece takes the upper hand and the Greeks are addressing for
help to Canning, who, after all, had already given them some positive signs. On the other hand,
the growing English interest in Greece has also his origins in the very nature of Greek politics.
Dakin claims that “at every turn the Greeks tended to form factions and to put forward rival
plans; if one group of patriots sought the assistance of a foreign power another group would
compete for the assistance or would set going a rival intrigue with another power. ” (Dakin,
160). My opinion is that probably the whole matter is a vicious circle; the divergent behavior of
the Great Powers stimulated the formation of different groups in Greece, and in this respect the
divided Greeks indirectly offered the Powers an open field to benefit for their own purposes.
In the meantime, Alexander + was trying to drag Austria and England to another Conference in
St. Petersburg but “Canning`s aim was to hold it off as long as possible, and only to consent to it
as a last resource.” Furthermore, Canning had given instructions to Bagot, the British
ambassador in Russia to take part in no meeting of the Holly Alliance. These orders Bagot
disregarded “and committed England to the conference scheme.” (Temperley, 332)
While a Conference was probably to be held in Russia, Canning received a letter from the
Greeks on 4th November, expressing their indignation about the Memorandum of Russia -what
else did this letter suggest other than which foreign party in Greece was at that point
strengthened? Canning’s reply was friendly, however, somewhat ambiguous. Virtually, “England
had been neutral as regards South America, and intended to be equally so towards Greece,”
(Temperley, 333). + would interpret the stance of Canning at this time, as that of letting Austria
and Russia consume themselves into reaching an agreement which on the one hand would be
worked out without England’s approval and on the other hand, would be unlikely to satisfy
neither the Greeks nor the Turks. And last but not least, Canning managed to separate his policy
from that of the Holly Alliance’s without provoking its members.
Apart from these diplomatic implications which have an indisputable importance and influence
on the Greek struggle, there is another fact of immense significance, which has been interpreted
in many different ways. It has to do with the loans that the Greeks managed to raise from British
banks; another sign of which of the Great Powers had the greatest influence on the Greeks’
thoughts! Paparrigopoulos states that negotiations in London for the floating of the first, after the
formation of the Greek Government, loan, which was actually granted at the beginning of 1824,
denoted practically the conviction that the British nation had for the success of the Greek
Revolution,” (Paparrigopoulos, 167). Markezinis seems to agree “The subscription of these two
loans, known as the loans of Independence, was a success, an overall recognition, with
important political effects. It constitutes the recognition of the Greek state,” (Markezinis, 29).
However, were the loans actually floated as an indirect acceptance of the recently formed Greek
government? “We should emphasize that during that period (1823) the stock-market of London
was going through an enormous crisis. There was in circulation a great amount of money with
1ow interest. For this reason London stock-market was giving loans to weak countries (Chile,
Argentina, Colombia, Denmark, Brazil, Mexico, etc.) at a high interest.” (Kordatos, 238-239).
More specifically, the Greek government was discredited to such an extent that the first loan
(1824) was floated at 59% and the second one (1825) at 51,5%, and even worse, for the same
reason, they had to mortgage the National Lands. The first loan was agreed to 800,000 pounds
sterling and the second to 2.000,000 pounds sterling but because of the high rate the Greeks got
into their hands for the first one only 300,000 pounds and for the second one only 600,000. Is it
because ‘”by the end of that year there were distinct signs that philhellene feeling was on the
wane”? (Anderson, 57). I cannot answer; maybe there was not any philhellene feeling after all,
or maybe there appeared to be one so that foreigners offer their help and then ask in return
double as much. Makriyannis, a Greek fighter, wrote: “The creditors ask for their money; we do
not give them a penny -they intervene in our affairs.” (Makriyannis, 497). These, however, are
nothing more than mere assumptions, that do not prohibit the probability that there were true
philhellenes. At any rate, if we take into account that “the small part (of the loans) that finally
reached Greece, served rather the civil war than the struggle for independence” (Markezinis,
29) we shall see that even the Greeks themselves tried to get the best, each one for his own, out
of the whole situation and had the tendency to forget their real objectives.
That is how we move to the year 1825. In Greece, at that time there was civil war. Ibrahim
Pasha –employed by the Sultan as extra help– set foot onto the Peloponnese and was directing
to Nafplion and yet Mavrokordatos had imprisoned Kolokotronis, a prominent Greek general.
Luckily for the Greeks he was later freed (31 May 1825) after Koundouriotis’, a prominent
politician, persistence. Greeks were in a dreadful plight and under such precarious
circumstances human beings sometimes in their efforts to escape, fail to see some pitfalls.
Similarly, the members of the Greek government facing the danger of being swallowed by the
Sultan, signed the “Act of Submission” (July 22nd, 1825) that was addressed to England. The
Greek delegation reached London in September 1825 and met with Canning on the 29th of the
same month. The delegation asked from Canning to choose a monarch for Greece expressing at
the same time their preference for Leopold, Duke of Saxe-Comburg. Much to the disappointment
of the Greek delegates, Canning’s reaction was far from their expectations: he politely rejected
their proposal claiming that he could not abandon the neutral policy he had adopted till then, for
he would put into danger the British interests. After all, what was Canning doing: two steps
forward one step backward? Was he doing the Greeks a good turn and when they ate the bait he
was to cool their heels to have grounds to ask something in return or was he just cautious not to
attract the attention of the European powers and of Turkey putting at stake his country’s interests,
as he was claiming? Bearing these questions in mind, should we accept, that those Greeks who
had signed this particular Act of Submission — actually at that time there were two more Acts of
Submission, one addressed to Russia and another one to France — were traitors, as more or less
Kordatos characterizes them? (Kordatos, 31). I believe that Kordatos’ stance is absolute; I
definitely agree that by this Act the Greeks opened a path for Canning for more intervention but
did they have any alternative? And furthermore, as Isambert observes, had not been Canning
(exercising an unquestionably sophisticated diplomacy) who in his letter on 1 December 1824,
was encouraging the Greeks to a future British intervention? (Isambert, 185).
After the Act of Submission Canning “was ready to negotiate between Turkey and Greece
single-handed and at once. Also, he was prepared to consider cooperation with Alexander of
Russia” (Temperley, 342). Similarly, Anderson writes “By September Canning was willing to
mediate between the Porte and its Greek subjects, and to cooperate in this way with Alexander”
(Anderson, 64). But why only now and not earlier, was Canning willing to negotiate? Probably
because “he thought a conference might be inevitable, but insisted that it could not be held until
diplomatic relations between Russia and Turkey were reestablished” (Temperley, 333).
Furthermore, I think it is self-evident that while he was turning down all proposals for official
settlement, he was breaking fresh ground concerning his relations with Greece and weakening
the position of the other Powers. However, now that Canning is ready to sit at the table of
negotiations, Tsar Alexander I died (December 1st, 1825), and his successor, Nicholas I, ‘”was
much less willing than Alexander I to sacrifice the real interest of Russia to dreams of
international cooperation.” (Anderson, 63). However, Canning sent the Duke of Wellington to
congratulate the new Tsar, giving him instructions to avoid the possibility of war.
In the meantime, Str. Canning met Mavrokordatos in January 1826 and the latter expressed the
Greeks’ preference of a solution provided by the powers in concert” and not a solution coming
from the Russian side alone. (Dakin, 178). Actually, at the third National Assembly of the
Greeks one of the main issues of the agenda was to vote and give official permission to Canning
to interfere. Here I give in translation an extract from the letter addressed to Str. Canning, in
regard to the British intervention: “Your Excellency, the legal plenipotentiaries of the Greek
Nation request you to employ for it (the Nation) your favorable cooperation [...]. They give you
the power to negotiate and carry out a peace in accordance to the honor and the interests of the
Greek Nation.” (Mamoukas, 132-133). Canning having the ‘green light’ instructed Wellington to
inform the Tsar about the proposal the Greek government made in 1825 (Act of Submission).
However, Nicholas sent an ultimatum to the Porte in an effort to settle his differences with the
Turks himself, directly. He also told the stunned Duke of Wellington that he would not sent an
ambassador to Constantinople unless England would back up the Russian ultimatum. (Dakin,
179). Anyhow, in this gloomy atmosphere the protocol of 4th April 1826 was signed in St.
Petersburg. According to this protocol Greece was declared an autonomous but tributary state,
and the `Greek territory’ had to be evacuated by the Turks. However, it failed to define what
was to be included in the ‘Greek territory’ (Temperley, 355). To the same respect Isambert
writes that when Nicholas asked whether France should participate in the entente, Wellington
was negative saying that France was opposed as much as Austria to the employment of `moyens
coercifs’ in the East. (Isambert, 259-260). In this attitude we can more clearly perhaps discern
Canning`s purpose of detaching Russia from Austrian and French influence. However, though
Canning reached more or less his goal, the acceptance of the Russian ultimatum –concerning
Russia’s affairs with Turkey — was a precondition for the protocol to be signed. It gave
Nicholas the advantage of commencing a war without necessarily violating the protocol. Last
but not least, even though a tributary, Greece was acknowledged as a state, which was of
immense importance for the Greeks. Nevertheless the British were not utterly satisfied by the
terms of the protocol and were planning in a more “elaborate arrangement”. (Dakin, 180).
Finally the Sultan at a separate meeting with the Russians accepted the Protocol of St.
Petersburg (in Akkerman, in October 1826), for he did not wish to be engaged in a war with
Russia.
Soon after the Conference at St. Petersburg was over, new negotiations emerged, for, the
Protocol just signed was not specific about how the Powers were to achieve their influence in