Journal of a Visit to Greece
Chapter VII
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CHAPTER VII.
Mahomet Ali, established at
Candia, was dangerously near, and his vicinity to the Morea afforded less scope to defence by
sea. The Sultan had accorded to the Pacha all the territory
he might acquire in the Morea, to be annexed to his own dominions.
In the beginning of March, 1825, the Egyptians, under Ibrahim Pacha, landed troops at Modon and Corfu; and shortly
after a second disembarkation took place. The regular troops were composed of Moors; with them
were several European officers, who acted principally as instructors, those only who had
embraced Mahometanism holding commands. The men were armed with musquets and bayonets; they
were ![]()
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tolerably trained, but, considered as a regular army, very
imperfect, and badly equipped; and, as is usually the case in Turkish armies, their
commissariat particularly defective. Ibrahim Pacha was attended by a
renegado Frenchman, as his adviser, who had been a colonel in his own service; his Moslem name
and title were Soliman Bey. The garrison of Navarino
consisted, at that time, of 300 men. The Turks made an attempt to carry it by storm, but were
gallantly repulsed, and then invested it with 10,000 men.
Generals Karaiscaki, Giavella, and Bedzadi the eldest son of
the Bey of Maina, behaved with great bravery in
harassing the Turks; but the want of cavalry to oppose the formidable Mamelukes was severely
felt. Bedzadi received a wound in the arm, and died at Arcadia, for want
of proper surgical assistance: he was a fine young man of talent and great promise. Anagnostara and the Bulgarian general Hadgj Christo arrived from Napoli.
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But the constant want of unanimity was again manifested: the day on which one
commander attacked, another would draw off, unwilling to acknowledge a superior: and when the
Roumeliots engaged, the Moreots remained inactive. Nor did the soldiers like fighting with the
Moors, who, when killed, afforded no other spoil but a Frank musquet and bayonet, on which they
formerly set no value, but which they have now been taught to fear: while the Turks had not
only rich arms of gold and silver, but frequently large sums of money which were found round
their waist, where both the Turks and Greeks carry it in a belt; and this custom of stopping to
plunder every dead body, though some incitement to attack, is a serious obstacle to following
up any advantage. The instant a man falls, a crowd is round him directly; and when flying, they
often throw away their arms, to tempt their pursuers to stop and pick them up.
In the latter end of March, the president ![]()
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left Napoli for
Tripolizza, at the head of about 2000 men, accompanied by Mavrocordato; but the approach of the feast of Easter, and the rainy weather,
proved sufficiently weighty reasons to postpone the expedition; whose proposed destination was
first Navarino, and then Patras. On leaving Tripolizza, the president took up his head-quarters
at Cintra. The arrears of the troops, without which they refused any longer to serve, were now
paid; they therefore made bolder advances, and, their communications being cut off, the Turks
were forced to retire. Mavrocordato threw himself in Navarino; and the
Greek fleet arriving, engaging and driving away that of the Egyptians, the garrison was
provisioned and increased to about 700 men. The Turks again advancing, the place was closely
invested, the town hotly bombarded, and batteries thrown up at the foot of the walls. In the
mean time preparations for forming a camp at Patras had not been discontinued, and a
well-arranged commissariat, the first in Greece, had been organized ![]()
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by
Constantine Metana; and for the first time the captains were obliged
to muster their men. This was an important measure, but which could not, in its commencement,
be thoroughly executed: the captains borrowed soldiers from each other for the review, and
enrolled the peasantry, but notwithstanding the barefacedness of the deception, the mere show
of the muster was some check to the ruinous peculation carried on.
It was an inactive existence at the camp of Patras. I had volunteered my
services for Navarino, which by the president were accepted at Tripolizza, but I afterwards got
orders again for Patras.
In April, Racschid Achmet Pacha advanced
on Anatolia, with a force of 30,000 men, and shortly after invested Messolunghi. Zongas, Maccrie and
Niketas entering the town, and the Roumeliots quitting
Navarino, joined them in great numbers. The Greek squadron had left the Gulph of Lepanto; and
the garrison of Patras ![]()
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which had begun to want provisions, was now
relieved, and it was at the free option of the Turks, to cross the gulph from Roumelia and make
a descent on the Morea.
In this critical position of affairs, Zaimi and Londos re-entered the Morea;
and landing at Monte Nero, near Patras, with about 100 followers, commenced levying troops.
They sent an address to the Government, declaring they had returned, in this threatening moment
of danger, only to act against the common enemy; but the Government gave orders to apprehend
them wherever they should be found; and when they were quickly at the head of 1500 men, the
Suliotes and General Coliopulo, received orders to march
to oppose them, and that at a time when Shakai Bey of Roumeli Valisi,
detached from Messolunghi, at the head of 4000 Albanian troops, ravaged all Roumelia from west
to east. This, and the dissensions between the Moreots ![]()
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and Roumeliots,
which had reached to such a height, that constant tumult and bloodshed took place between them,
determined the Government to send all the troops that were not natives from the Morea, to
oppose the Turks in Roumelia. The orders which the Suliotes had received, and had marched to
act upon, were accordingly now countermanded, and their destination was changed to Salona,
whither we immediately marched; and at Vostizza joined Karaiscaki, Giavella, and Costa Botzari, who had left Navarino. Our little army
consisted of 2000 men, Albanians and Roumeliots, and including all the Suliotes. Had the days
lost in marching against Zaimi and Londos been
employed in reaching Salona, that place might have been saved, but its fate was now decided.
The people were now loud in their demands for the release of Colocotroni and their other rulers. In Sessini’s province of Gastouni, though before always complaining of his
extortion, they were ![]()
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eagerly desiring his return.
Colocotroni had demanded an immediate trial, or to be released to
oppose the enemy.
Goura had been engaged against the camp of Ulysses at Tarenta; when that chieftain, suddenly leaving the
Turks at Negropont, unattended and alone, and unable to gain access to his fortress,
surrendered to Goura. Whatever were the views of
Ulysses, either in joining or leaving the Turks, whether they
suspected his design, and that he only intended making use of them for his present advancement,
employing the enemies of his country was treading on dangerous ground; and, however
exasperating the treatment he had experienced, his so doing is not to be defended: “It
was a grievous fault, and grievously has he answered it.” He remained a prisoner
at Athens. His cave, in Mount Parnassus, where his family and riches were placed, and which
Trelawney commanded, was closely blockaded, and
every attempt made to gain ![]()
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possession. Ulysses was
in person escorted to the cave, and forced to sign a summons to Trelawney
to surrender, but which was not complied with. Trelawney had greatly
determined Ulysses to leave the Turks, and proposed to him to quit Greece
entirely for a time, and go to America: he could not, therefore, in honour, betray the trust
reposed in him. The situation of the cave defies all open attack: a steep and difficult ascent
leads to the foot of it; a vast projecting arch, entering deep in the massive rock, at 150 feet
perpendicular height from the ground, forms this impregnable hold; three flights of ladders
lead to a small portal, cut in the solid rock, and surmounted by battlements. In the interior,
are houses, numerous magazines, and an extensive terre-plein, all completely open to the sun and light, but sufficiently
sheltered by the arch to render it inaccessible from above. It is provisioned for a number of
years, and a spring, running from the rock, supplies it with ![]()
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water. Its
garrison was composed of a few trusty followers,* under the command of
Trelawney.
On the advance of the Albanians detached from Messolunghi, under the
Shakaia Bey, Pannuria, chief of Salona, advanced
to oppose them; but, inferior in numbers, received a check at Pendaornia. Goura joining Pannuria from Tarenta, they
together occupied
* It is a most romantic situation. Numbers of eagles, once the
undisturbed possessors of the now peopled cave, are constantly soaring above: and here,
on my former visit to Trelawney, whose
appearance and lofty bearing, and whose character and wild adventurous life well
accorded with his situation, I found the latest novel which had then appeared from the
pen of the author of Waverley. It was delightful, on
the heights of Mount Parnassus, to meet with a romance of his, in a scene so congenial
to his writings. Two small beautiful young deer, natives of Mount Parnassus, were
destined as a present to Waverley’s author; but the chance of war has otherwise disposed of
them. The view from the cave was beautiful, extending over the rich plain of Livadia,
surmounted by the rising mountains of Negropont and intervening sea. Immediately
opposite rose another range of rocky mountains, between a deep and precipitous ravine,
down which rushes a rapid stream. |
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Salona. Here Goura, trusting to the terror of his
name, neglected all precautions of defence; but the Albanians knew how to distinguish between
the hand that struck a blow, and the head that guided its direction; and, unprepared for an
attack, they were surprised by the Turks, driven out of the town, and completely routed, with a
loss of 200 of their bravest soldiers. The greater part of the inhabitants were taken or put to
the sword. The Greeks were panic-struck: never had the Turks made such rapid movements. The
Turks said to them, “You have not Ulysses with
you now, and we no longer fear you.” The former campaigns had not been even
commenced by the Turks till the month of July, as they waited the ripening of the crops for
forage for their cavalry; but, as they acted in their enemy’s country, they ought rather
to have commenced operations before the crops could be got off the ground and secured by the
Greeks; after which the country, ![]()
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completely burnt up in the months of
August and September, afforded no subsistence, and they were left entirely to their own
supplies, which were generally soon exhausted. But, by coming sooner, they had at least green
forage for the present; and as the war was not very actively carried on, they had little to
apprehend from any of their distant communications being cut off; and they could be equally
supplied from their own provinces, without first waiting to encumber themselves with its
transport, or beginning to consume it before it was absolutely required.
The wind being against embarking our forces at Vostizza, we marched rapidly
along the coast of the Gulph of Lepanto to Corinth, where we embarked, and joined Goura at the monastery of San Lucca, near Dystomo, where we
found him wrangling with his soldiers about arrears of pay, which he refused to give, though he
had received the money from the Government. Discontented, they were deserting him in great
num-![]()
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bers*. Goura was appointed
commander-in-chief, but the hereditary chieftain, Karaiscaki and the proud Suliote captains, ill brooked acting under the orders
of an upstart, devoid of talents, and the consequence was ceaseless discord and
dissensions†. It was proposed * I had not seen Goura for
more than a year, when with Ulysses we played the
jerreed together at Athens, for I was absent from Gastouni the few days he staid there.
He is a fine-looking fellow, and brave; but the brutal acts of cruelty of which he has
been guilty, are disgraceful to humanity. † Taking advantage of a day’s inactivity, I made a rapid
night-march to the cave of Ulysses, to visit my
countrymen in their far-famed wild dwelling, as I had not seen them for many months. I
passed the precipitous defiles during a rainy night, as the road by the plain was open
to the Turks. On returning afterwards from the cave, and seeking shelter in a ruined
church, we encountered a party of fifteen desperate-looking fellows, who were
apparently deserting to the Turks; and, as an Englishman is always supposed to be rich
in gold and silver, we had every reason to expect an adventure. My party consisted of
an Italian officer, two men, and a lad, my pipe-bearer, but all staunch; and had they
attempted it, they would neither have found a rich or an easy prize; but we |
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by Karaiscaki and Giavella, to demand the release of Ulysses; who, had he desired, could not have again joined the Turks, but that was
opposed by the other captains. Except Messolunghi and Athens, there remained but two small
towns in all Roumelia that had escaped the devastations of the Turks; these were Disfena and
Kastri, the site of ancient Delphi; but owing to some delay, from want of necessary supplies,
and more from wavering resolves and councils, we allowed the enemy to advance on them. Kastri
being a strong position, the inhabitants defended themselves from their houses, and the enemy
retired, after setting fire to a small number. The Turks then advanced in two columns, by
different routes, on a position we now occupied at Dystomo, leaving a small force at Salona,
which we ought then to passed part of the night very peaceably together,
round the same fire. |
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have attacked, approaching by the mountain passes; or, at least, engaged
them in detail:* but we contented ourselves with fortifying our position, and waiting an
attack. A small party of Turkish cavalry boldly reconnoitred the Delhis, walking their horses
composedly within musket-shot of our tambours; but the Greeks are not to be led against
cavalry, under any advantage whatsoever. We had a trifling skirmish with an advanced party of
infantry, and the Turks retiring on Disfena, which they completely destroyed, retrograded on
Salona, without making an attack, and we followed, completing the work of devastation.
Two Turks, taken prisoners at Disfena, were staked and burnt alive: that it is
a retaliation,
* Alluding to a former engagement, the professed war-cry of the
Suliotes was, “Hurrah! for Salona!” But alas! now the moment was
come, they did not suit the action to the word, it was;—Vox et præterea nihil. |
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is a poor apology for such barbarity in any calling themselves
Christians.*
We were irregularly supplied with flour, from the Morea; but whole flocks of
sheep and goats, that had escaped the ravages of the enemy, were taken from the unfortunate
peasants, whom we did not even endeavour to protect. The Turks reaped, we gleaned the country;
and our soldiers, better acquainted with the place of refuge of the inhabitants, plundered
without restraint. Thanks to the inactivity and
* I lost here the faithful and well-loved companion of my wanderings
and dangers—a Newfoundland dog. Dear Fashion! she was
probably shot by some soldiers, who did not know the dog, and mistook her for one of
their country. They are fond of killing every living thing, except Turks with arms in
their hands. My dog seemed to be more human than my fellow-creatures, by whom I was
surrounded. I stood alone, indeed, “without one trusted heart and
hand.” It was a dreary and a troubled feeling, and sometimes forced a sigh
for scenes of former days, which I might never behold again. It was a disgusting
service, and I determined to leave it as soon as the campaign should be over. |
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stupidity of the Turks, our provisions which we received in boats, from
the Morea, were not cut off, though they commanded the gulph. Our army hardly amounted to 3000
men, for numbers had deserted Goura, to return to
Athens; but we drew rations for 11,600, which, when regularly supplied, were sold by the
captains. There were no commissariat mules, but those of the inhabitants were put in
requisition, and often carried away.
Karaiscaki, our most enterprising captain, now acted
independently of Goura, and we generally, after some
delay, followed his steps; for Goura’s men were disconcerted at
their late defeat, and had no confidence in his leading. The Greeks are an acute people; and he
who attempts to command them, must possess very superior talent, or he may in vain hope to
maintain any influence over them.
