MODERN GREECE: A History since 1821 - Amazon Web Services

STATECRAFT AND IRREDENTISM (1831–62) 35
interests that had come to life in the war of independence, the British,
the French, and the Russian, constituted loose collections of politicians
serving in some capacity in the central or local government, or were out
of service. Both sets, the ins no less than the outs, courted the monarch’s
favor and at the same time desperately tried to keep a following of
political friends mostly through the use of promises, since they had
very little else to distribute. Local barons were in an advantageous position
in comparison with politicians like Mavrocordatos and others who
had come to the kingdom and had no local base of power.
The scramble for office and influence produced disaffection among
politicians of all descriptions and pursuits. John Colettis presented
himself and his followers, mostly Continental Greek captains and their
armed retainers, as the Constitutional Party and conversed with the
French minister in Athens. They were as liberal as any party could be
liberal in Greece of the time. Constitutionalism was only a front which
attracted some liberal intellectuals and a crowd of captains, most of
whom considered the constitution synonymous to license for all kinds
of unlawful actions, including brigandage and extortion. Conservatives
like the hero of the revolution Theodore Kolokotronis, Augustine
Capodistria, the murdered president’s brother, and the Cephalonian
archon Andreas Metaxas led the largest political following, which was
backed by the Orthodox hierarchy and Russia. It was by far the most
numerous and influential group, having the support of two of the
Greek capital’s most influential newspapers, Aeon and Soter. Squeezed
between the two, the English party of Alexander Mavrocordatos was
the smallest of the three, counting on the support of some Hydriot leaders
and learned men, such as the historian of the Greek revolution
Spyridon Trikoupis. It was the party which favored liberal reforms, and
as such was closer ideologically to the monarchical government.
How then did these followings, which at first sight differed so much
from each other, come to agree on demanding the promulgation of a constitution?
There were two elements, present in all three parties, which
forced the hand of their reluctant leaderships and of the even more reluctant
representation of the protecting powers, which were the guarantor
powers of the county’s regime: i) liberal intellectuals of the French and
the English parties principally, but also some Philorthodox circles,
opposed to the Catholic monarch from the start and for their own reasons,
and ii) Moreot notables, Hydriot archons, and Rumeliot captains,
who joined the constitutional cause, and did so not out of conviction but