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and devotion to the cause of Greece has alone prevented me from so doing. But as soon as, through divine Providence and my brave companions in arms, the operations on the gulf of Arta, the occupation of Macrinoros, and the capitulation of Carvassara had decided the fall of Lepanto and Missolonghi, and the total liberation of western Greece, I repaired to the seat of government, where, on the first opportunity offered to me by his excellency the President, I gave him to understand, that it was not my intention to continue to serve under the actual system. Those, who have served their country under my immediate orders, can bear witness to what I had daily to suffer, not from the Greek nation certainly, nor from the brave military who supported me, but from the system adopted by the government, which was ill calculated to aid our military operations, but well adapted to drive from his post any general who did not feel, as I did, that he had devoted his humble services, not to the individual at the head of the government for the time, but to the Greek nation; and in whose soul the desire of her freedom was not the ruling passion to which all others were subservient. With the greatest respect for the Greek nation, I subscribe to the following declaration, That the actual system of the government of Greece is not in harmony with my opinions or conscience;' aud in consequence I resign into the hands of the representatives of the nation, assembled in Congress in Argos, the commission of generalissimo and director of all the land forces of Greece, which I re

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ceived from the national congress of Trozene in 1827."

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The National Assembly was convoked at Argos, on the 23rd of July. It ought to have met sooner: but so little interest was felt, in the existence of such a body, that the day of meeting had elapsed, and the elections had not taken place. The President was under the necessity of writing circulars to certain persons, whom he had connected with the administration, under the name of extraordinary commissioners, urging them to find ways and means of getting the elections carried through. An assembly accordingly was got up, and, in such circumstances, its opinions, if it had any, would all lie one way. Those concerned in it were ignorant of their business, that a great many provinces returned the President himself as a member of the legislative body. He might as well have named the members himself. The province of Corinth gave its deputies instructions, which, after a warm eulogium on the President, contained these two simple rules: 1st, they were to confine themselves to matters, which, in the President's opinion, would advance the public good; 2nd they were not to meddle with factions, and so resist the President's salutary intentions. They were farther told that, if they departed in any degree from these instructions, their powers were null and void.

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The assembly, thus composed, almost exclusively, of the President's partizans, and governed solely by his influence, continued to sit from the 23rd of July till the 18th of August. It passed a law, directing that all differences

between parties, arising out of sadors of France and England, hadcrimes committed by the one returned to Constantinople, and against the other, between the 8th had presented for the acceptance of March 1821, and the installation of the Sultan, the protocol of of the provisional government in the 22nd of March. The Rus- ' 1828, should be decided by three sians were not yet beyond the arbitrators, to be named, one by Balkan; to accept the protocol each party, and one by the govern- was not yet a work of necessity: ment. These arbitrators were only therefore the Sultan obstinately reto award damages, and their great fused to have any thing to do with object was to be "the extinction it. The Balkan was crossed; and of hostile passions." Another de- the Sultan now proposed to yield cree recognized the necessity of to the Greek treaty, on condition building churches, providing for of Greece being restricted to the the clergy, and establishing schools Morea, of its being placed under a and printing-offices; and there- Hospodar of his own choice, of fore empowered the government his receiving a large tribute, and of -to take all the money which the new state enjoying no public might be given to it for these use- force, no separate national flag, ful purposes. It recognized the no sign nor symbol of independdisinterestedness of the President, ence. These terms were not acin having "devoted to the service ceded to; in accordance with of the country the remains of his the protocol they could not be property;" and voted him a civil granted. The Russian army enlist of 180,000 phacnines, a reve- tered Adrianople, stretched across nue as little in esse as was the the country from sea to sea, and coin in which it was estimated. began to put out its feelers toThe President declined the money, wards the capital. To yield was which there was no treasury to at length a work of necessity; and pay; and having told them that Russia, dictating the terms of he was proud to have been al- peace, inserted an article in the lowed to "deposit the remainder treaty, by which Turkey acceded of his small property on the altar expressly to the protocol of the of the country," added, that he 22nd of March, and by which it would never be a burthen to the was stipulated that the Porte public so long as any thing was should immediately appoint plenileft of that "remainder" which potentiaries to settle with those of had been already deposited. In the three powers, the execution. regard to foreign affairs, they of the stipulations and arrangegave him full power to take part in ments contained in that diplomatic any negotiations regarding Greece. act. By their last act, they declared that they themselves were to form the next assembly, and were to be convoked by the President so soon as the government should have prepared a constitution, or other important matters should occur.

In the mean time, the ambas

Russia, in thus making the settlement of the Greek question an article of her separate treaty with Turkey, falsified her own declaration, and usurped the powers of her allies. She had expressly and ostentatiously announced, that the Greek question was no cause of the

war which she was about to wage, and that, in regard to that topic of dispute, she would act only in concert with her allies. By what right, then, did she insert a single stipulation regarding it, in the treaty that terminated a war, with which, according to her own professions, it had no connection, and a treaty to which those powers, without whom she had bound herself to take no step regarding it, neither were, nor could be, parties. This resembled too much the arrogance of the conqueror, who felt that his sword had rendered him independent of his diplomatic allies, and that he had contrived to make use of their assistance to put him in a situation, which enabled him to settle the Greek question in any way he might choose. France and England immediately represented to Russia, that the execution of the treaty of London did not belong to her alone, but was to be the joint work of the three Cabinets. In consequence of this representation, it was agreed that the conferences regarding Greece should be transferred to London, and that Turkey should not be authorized or required to send plenipotentiaries to attend to her interests, although her treaty with Russia expressly stipulated that she should have power to do so. As among the allies, this might be perfectly right; but as to the Porte the principle was this, that the provisions in the treaty between it and Russia were to be binding on the latter only in so far as they were not inconsistent with engagements between her and other powers, to which the Porte was no party.

The first important question was, whether Turkey should be allowed to retain even a nominal

sovereignty over the new state, with an annual tribute, or whether Greece should be utterly severed from the empire, and set up in absolute independence? The suzeraintè of the Porte had been one of the provisions of the treaty of London; it was an express condition of the protocol of the 22nd of March, to which the Sultan had been compelled to accede. The three powers had not hitherto claimed any right actually to cut off whatever portion they might choose from the Sultan's dominions and erect it into an independent state. But they had now changed their minds; and it was resolved that Greece should be freed from the sovereignty of Turkey out and out. To say nothing of the mischievous principle, if principle there be any, which lies at the bottom of such acts, what had already become of the treaty of Adrianople, signed only a few weeks before? The Sultan had therein accepted the protocol of the 22nd of March; he had taken its disadvantages, and he was entitled to its benefits. By that treaty Russia was bound, if there be any faith in treaties at all, to preserve to Turkey its supremacy over Greece; and yet Russia is one of three powers who calmly sit down, when the ink of that treaty is scarcely dry, and resolve that it shall not be observed! True it is, that Russia ought not to have meddled with the matter

that she was bound up from making any stipulation regarding it. But still, since she had done so, she, at least, was bound to use all her influence to obtain its fulfilment: she used all her influence the other way. Even in regard to her companions, the conditions,

which they had proposed, were verbatim the conditions to which Russia brought Turkey to consent in the treaty. Turkey, who was no party to their conventions and protocols, was entitled to hold, that, when she made one of the powers the medium of her assent to that which all the three were demanding, she was satisfying the claims of all of them. Vae victis! As some compensation for this unprincipled game of confederacy, the three powers next agreed to restrict the territory of the new state within somewhat narrower limits than were assumed in the protocol. The boundary in that instrument was a line drawn across the mountains from the gulph of Volo on the east, to that of Arta on the west. The line now adopted was farther to the south. It was to commence on the east at Zeitouni, a little to the northward of Thermopyle, and run across the country, in the direction of Vrachori, till it reached the river Aspropotamos, the ancient Acheloüs, whose course it was then to follow to where it joins the sea not far to the west of Missolonghi. It thus excluded Acarnania and Thessaly, the town of Vonizza, which the Greeks had taken early in the year, and an extensive tract of level country lying round the gulph of Calamo. These matters were determined without consulting the wishes of the Greek people, or even making any communication to the Greek government. The National Assembly, which met at Argos on the 23rd of July, passed a decree, approv ing of the contents of the Presi

dent's answer to the note of the English resident, requesting a suspension of hostilities, and giving full power to the President "to take part in the negotiations to which the allied powers might invite him, in order to agree on the conditions of the execution of the treaty of London," but declaring, at the same time, that the conditions agreed on should not be binding on the nation, till they were acknowledged and confirmed by its national representatives. Count Capo d' Istria was invited to no negotiations, nor even informed of their course. The interests of Greece and of Turkey were decided at London, without the intervention of either a Turkish or a Greek minister. It remained to be seen how far the conclusions, at which the three powers might arrive, would receive the approbation of the "national representatives of Greece," and, if they did not, how far these powers had succeeded in establishing happiness and repose by sacrificing the sound principles of international law. Greece could scarcely have much reason to complain. The three powers had not fought on her side as allies; they had created her, as a thing to be moulded and fashioned by their own views, and at their own pleasure. The power they were exercising was anomalous in principle, and difficult in practice; but fortunately they could scarcely do any thing for her so bad as would indubitably have resulted from the ignorance. of her own people, and the ignorance, knavery, and selfishness of her own great men.

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CHAP. XII.

UNITED STATES.-Congress-Inaugural Address of the new President.-BRAZIL.-Extraordinary Meeting of the Legislative Assembly-Proposed Reformation of the Bank-Ordinary Meeting of the Assembly-Reductions in Expenditure-Finances-Attempted Impeachments of the Ministers of Justice and of War for their Proceedings on occasion of an Insurrection at Pernambuco.-BUENOS AYRES.-General Lavalle, at the head of his Troops, overturns the Government-Do Rego, the Governor of Buenos Ayres, raises Troops in the Country to oppose him-Lavalle marches against him, defeats him, takes him Prisoner, and puts him to Death without Trial-Civil War-The Provinces of Santa Fe and Cordova declare against Lavalle-He`marches against them-In his absence the Federalists under Rosas approach Buenos Ayres-Lavalle returns to defend the City-Buenos Ayres is besieged-Lavalle concludes a Treaty with the Federalists-Reverses of the Federalists in Cordova-The influence of Lavalle prevails in the Elections at Buenos Ayres-The Federalists refuse to acknowledge them -A new Convention is concluded, annulling the Elections, and naming a Senate to conduct the Government.-COLOMBIA.-War with Peru-The Peruvians blockade Guayaquil, and make an unsuccessful attack upon it-It afterwards capitulates-The Peruvians are defeated at Tarqui, and Preliminaries of Peace are signed-The Peruvian Governor of Guayaquil refuses to give it up, and the Campaign is renewed-In consequence of a Revolution in Peru, Guayaquil is given up to the Colombians, and Hostilities are suspended, that a Peace may be negociated-Bolivar convokes an Assembly to meet in 1830-He forces by a Decree the Rights of the Electors and the mode of Election-Santander's sentence of Death is commuted into Banishment-Decree against secret Societies -An Insurrection against Bolivar breaks out in Popayan, but is quelled-Another Insurrection against his unlimited power breaks out in the province of Antioquia-A Revolution in Bolivia, in favour of the Colombian party. PERU.-A Revolution-The President, Lamar, is sent into Banishment, and General La Fuente seizes the Government.-MEXICO.-Consequences of the Insurrection of December 1828, and of the Flight of Pedrazza the President elect— Congress Meets--Pedrazza resigns, and Guerrero is declared President-Law for the Expulsion of the old Spaniards-State of the Finances-Congress imposes an Income Tax, but the Government is unable to enforce it-Extraordinary Meeting of Congress to oppose a Spanish Invasion-They Vote a forced Loan-They give the President unlimited power over Persons and Property-A Spanish

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