Chapter 25: The Intervention of the Powers
The French Arrive in the Morea
The withdraw of Egypt from the Greek War of Independence was one of several achievements for British Foreign Minister George Canning in the year 1827. In continuation of the Protocol of St. Petersburg, Britain, and Russia, later joined by France in August of 1826, began negotiations over a united front with which to bring about a peaceful conclusion to the war in Greece. Unfortunately, the events in Greece were not the only problems facing Canning and the Powers at that time. As mentioned before, Portugal was in the throes of civil war with Britain and France arranged on opposing sides. Though the guile and bravado of Canning, war was averted between the powers sparing Europe from a far greater conflict that year. Another more internal and personal problem emerged in the February of 1827, the Prime Minister Lord Liverpool fell ill and was forced to retire from office soon after in early April leaving a power vacuum in Parliament.
Canning was by all rights the favored candidate to succeed Liverpool. He was a tenured member of Parliament, having served as Paymaster of the Forces, Treasurer of the Navy, Ambassador to Portugal, President of the Board of Control for the British East India Company, Leader of the House of Commons, and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Foreign Minister) on two separate occasions no less. His most recent term as Foreign Minister had been especially successful, with victories in both Lisbon and St. Petersburg, he had also opened Latin America to British trade, and he was a strong proponent of abolishing slavery throughout the Empire. Most importantly, he had the support of the Duke of Clarence and his brother King George IV. Despite their tenuous history with each other, the King appointed Canning as Prime Minister on the 10th of April.
[1]
Still this did not appease all members of the Tory Party. The Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, had been his chief rival for the office and resigned from the Cabinet in protest of Canning’s appointment. Many other High Tories in the cabinet, like Sir Robert Peel the Home Secretary, also resigned from the cabinet along with nearly 45 High Tories in Parliament, all of which refused to support Canning’s government leaving it on tenuous footing. As a result, Prime Minister Canning was forced to form a coalition between the moderate wing of the Tories, the Canningites, and the Whigs to form a functioning government. As such, much of the cabinet under Canning was comprised of his good friends like Lord Dudley, who served as Foreign Secretary, Viscount Goderich, the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, and William Sturges-Bourne as Home Secretary and then later as First Commissioner of the Woods and Forests. To gain the Whig's support, Canning appointed several of their number to his Cabinet with Lord Lansdowne as Home Secretary, and George Tierney as the Master of Mint. With his cabinet established by the end of June, Canning immediately went to work finalizing the treaty with the French and the Russians regarding Greece.
When the Russian and French delegates arrived in London at the end of the month, they quickly agreed to the most recent edition of the treaty, signing it on the 5th of July. In terms of intent, the Treaty of London was very similar to the Protocol of St. Petersburg, although there were some key differences. The Treaty of London possessed 7 open articles, as well as 3 closed articles that were privy only to the signing Powers themselves. As with the Protocol of St. Petersburg the 7 open articles called for:
· Greece shall be established as an autonomous dependency of the Ottoman Empire, paying an agreed annual tribute.
· The Greeks shall choose their own governing authorities, but with significant influence by the Ottoman Empire over the proceedings.
· Greece shall have complete freedom of conscience, freedom of trade, and freedom of internal administration.
· To separate the Greeks from the Turks, the government of Greece shall acquire all Turkish property within its territory.
· If mediation is rejected by the Ottoman Empire, then these proposals shall form the basis of intervention by Britain, France, and Russia in a joint action.
· The future extent of Greece shall be settled once the conflict is ended.
· Britain, France, and Russia shall not seek for themselves any territorial gains, exclusive influence or commercial advantage from the mediation.
By in large, these articles mostly followed the terms initially set forth in the Protocol of St. Petersburg, aside from amending the terms of the Protocol to reflect the addition of France as a joint partner. There were two important, albeit minor differences between this treaty and the previous protocol, the first being the elimination of a guarantee for the agreement. In effect, the Powers were under no pressure to enforce any of the 7 open articles set forth in the Treaty of London. The Powers also agreed to refrain from acting alone in Greece preventing the unilateral engagement of one power in the conflict, ensuring a unified and unbiased endeavor for peace. The major departure from the earlier Protocol of St. Petersburg, however, lay within the three closed articles which were more determinative of the Powers’ course of action.
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Britain, France, and Russia shall establish commercial and diplomatic relations with Greece, recognizing her status as an autonomous state.
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If within a month’s time of receiving this treaty’s terms, the Ottoman Empire has refrained from accepting the joint calls for an armistice and mediation by the Powers, Britain, France, and Russia shall intervene in the conflict to enforce such an armistice.
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Lastly, should the powers intervene in the conflict, an expeditionary force of the British, French, and Russian navies shall be dispatched to the region to enforce the armistice, and they shall be permitted the use of appropriate force to achieve that end.[2]
The final two secret articles were amended over the course of the following days. The time limit for the armistice was shortened from a month to a fortnight, and the last article was modified after the signing of the Treaty of Alexandria. The admirals in command of the expeditionary force were subsequently instructed to receive the surrender of Ibrahim Pasha and his men as well as escort them safely to Egypt in addition to their previous orders to enforce peace in the region. For Canning, this was the culmination of nearly three years of work, both as Foreign Minister and Prime Minister, the effort had quite noticeably taken its toll on him however.
While his health had never strong following his duel with Castlereagh nearly 18 years prior, he had been plagued all year with terrible bouts of illness since the funeral of Frederick, the Duke of York in January. These coughing fits often left him weak and bedridden for hours, sometimes even days on a few occasions. Added to that, the rigors and exhaustion of running a government the size and scale of Britain’s weighed heavy on him at all hours. Suffice to say, the entire endeavor had left him weak and sickly, forcing him to take a temporary leave of absence from office on the first of August to save in failing health.
[3]
Suffice to say, the secret articles did not remain secret for long, although surprisingly, they remained secret to the Ottomans far longer than expected. Blithely unaware of these terms and the pending interdiction by the Great Powers represented in them, the Ottomans as they had for all the prior attempts to end the war in a manner not to their liking, rejected the calls for an armistice almost immediately. The Sultan was in no mood for diplomacy with the Greeks so soon after the betrayal of Muhammad Ali and the Egyptians, and while the setbacks against his forces had been painful they were not anywhere near terminal. Even without the men and resources of Egypt, the Ottomans still possessed many times the men and resources of the Greeks. Still, officials of the Porte recognized the threat presented by Britain, France and Russia for what it was and dispatched what forces they could to the front with Greece. If they could reduce the territory held by the Greeks or defeat them entirely, which was unlikely at present, they believed they could limit their losses more so than if they accepted the current calls for peace and opted for negotiations.
When word of the treaty reached Greece, the reaction was jubilation as people danced in the streets for the Ottomans would surely reject the call for an armistice just as they had for all the others, resulting in the intervention of the Powers. Rather than being pleased by the news, Kapodistrias was more hesitant towards the Powers intervention. Accepting the meditation of the Britain, France, and Russia would put Greece at their mercy just as it would the Ottomans. Whatever terms they set for Greece would be hoisted upon them with little consideration of the Greeks themselves. Still, he would rather the Powers be his ally than his enemy and accepted their calls for an armistice.
With the Ottomans unflinching in their opposition and the Greeks reluctantly agreeing, the British, French, and Russians made their move. Enacting the last clause of the Treaty of London the Allied Fleet under the joint command of British Vice Admiral Edward Codrington, French Rear Admiral Henri de Rigny, and Russian Rear Admiral Lodewijk Heyden departed for the Aegean on the 19th of August.
[4] Due to his seniority over de Rigny, and his better familiarity with the Mediterranean over Heyden, Codrington was elected as the Expeditions’ unofficial leader in matters of debate, deliberation, and diplomacy. While they were instructed to behave as neutral arbiters in Greece and promote peace there, it was clear that biases existed among its members.
Sir Edward Codrington (Left), Count Henri de Rigny (Center), Count Lodewijk Heyden (Right)
The British contingent of 13 ships was stocked with various Philhellene officers like Captain Hamilton of the Cambrian who had provided the Greeks with unofficial, if not illicit support at the battle of Myloi over two years before. Codrington was himself a prominent Philhellene as well and had been a leading member of the London Greek Committee since its inception. The Russians, under Heyden, were also clearly disposed against the Ottomans and if anything, were looking for an excuse to fight them at every turn. The French were perhaps the most neutrally inclined of the three with de Rigny being personally against assisting the Greeks, their efforts were mainly focused towards the evacuation of the Egyptians from Greece.
Making port at Navarino on the 11th of September, the French began disembarking their men under Lieutenant General Nicholas Joseph Maison. Though it would take some time, Maison managed to successfully transfer control of Pylos from Ibrahim and the Egyptians. Once the Egyptians were safely away, Maison transfered control of Navarino to the Greeks. This spectacle was repeated at Methoni, Koroni, Kyparissia, Gastouni, Kastro, Kyllini, Andravida, Dymi, Larissos, Movri, and Olenia. By Christmas, the entirety of the Morean coast from Kalamata to the outskirts of Patras had been returned to the Greeks.
The Ottomans in Patras would continue to resist the Greeks and the French for a time, but with their commander Yusuf Pasha trapped in Missolonghi its garrison soon capitulated to the allied forces as well in late January 1828. The fall of Patras set off a cascade of capitulations by the remaining Ottoman holdouts in the region with Rio, Antirrio, the Castle of the Morea, and the Castle of the Roumeli all surrendering to the Greeks between February and March of 1828. Missolonghi, surprisingly, would be the last Ottoman position in the region but it too surrendered in the late April as starvation finally forced Yusuf Pasha to surrender. While events in the Morea proved relatively peaceful, they were anything but in the Aegean.
Greece on the 1st of May 1828
Purple - Greece
Green - Ottoman Empire
Pink - The United States of the Ionian Islands
Next Time: Crete, Chios, and the Cesme Incident
[1] Canning had been especially vocal in opposing King George IV’s efforts to divorce his wife Queen Caroline and for his shameful treatment of her. He also distrusted Canning for his more liberal leanings, Canning was from the more moderate wing of the Tory party, whereas the King was a staunch Conservative. Still, the King recognized his talents and did not oppose his appointment as Prime Minister.
[2] The call for an armistice was little more than an excuse for the Powers to intervene in Greece. They provided the Ottomans with terms that they would obviously reject and use that rejection as a casus-belli for their involvement in the region.
[3] George Canning died on August 8th, 1827 only a month after the passing of the Treaty of London. The cause of his death is generally attributed to the illness he caught during the funeral service of the Duke of York back in January. The service had been held in an unheated church, and the resulting illness left him deathly ill. While he would survive for several more months the rigors of office took their toll on him resulting in his OTL death. Immediately after the completion of the Treaty of London, Canning delved into efforts to entice Muhammad Ali away from Sultan Mahmud II which occupied his attention and energies, in addition to his other work. With the Treaty of Alexandria already accomplished, Canning has an opportunity for a brief respite to rest, resulting in his prolonged life ITTL.
[4] These are the same Admirals who led the OTL intervention. While the Russian and French ships are tentatively under the supreme leadership of Codrington they are more or less autonomous. There are 13 British warships, 7 French warships, and 8 Russian warships in this peace keeping force. Codrington was only given overall command of the operation because of his seniority over de Rigny and his experience in the Mediterranean over Heyden.