Constructing Ionian identities: the Ionian Islands in British official ...

deserved either representative or responsible government. Liberal constitutional and
political reforms in Britain during the Protectorate, such as the Reform Act (1832)
and the transition from representative legislatures to responsible ministries in white
settler colonies such as Canada and Australia, also encouraged new attitudes towards
colonisation and the colonies. Changes in government sometimes had significant
effect, though as we have seen there was no simple connection between party
allegiance and colonial politics.
It was not only the British who debated the forms of rule needed for the
Septinsula, but Ionians themselves were equally divided. The Liberali, such as
Mustoxidi, advocated constitutional reforms in the Islands, but within the framework
of the Protectorate. Others, like Bulgari, believed the Ionians were unfit for such
reforms and supported firmness in British rule. The Radicals/Risospasti, who
initially advocated reforms within the framework of the Protectorate, became more
vociferous in their demands for unification with Greece, on the grounds of national
self-determination, during the last decade of British rule. In their correspondence
with the Colonial Office and friends such as Russell, Hawes, Grey and Gladstone,
Ward, Young and Storks not only described their disagreements with the Risospasti
in the Assembly, they also indicated other Ionian voices which supported the
continuance of the Protectorate and led colonial officials to believe there was the
need to continue to search for appropriate institutions, a point rarely emphasised in
Greek/Ionian historiography.
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