Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 04.djvu/458

LEFT GREECE 394 GREECE and sensitive Greeks carried refinement of manners to an extent not yet ex- ceeded in modern times. They had at the same time an extensive commerce with Gaul, Italy, and Sicily. Their en- terprise and love of liberty bore them successfully through all the troubles of the Persian war, 469 B. c. ; but from the same reasons they became involved in intestine feuds. The Peloponnesian war, which lasted 30 years (ending 404 B. c), destroyed their union, and paved the way for Philip of Macedon, who (338 B. c.) gained the decisive battle of Cher- onaja, and thus became master of Greece. The brilliant conquests of Alexander engaged them for a few years; but their courage was now enervated, and their love of liberty almost extinguished. When the Achaian league proved a vain defense against the kingdom of Mace- don, Greece was utterly unable to con- tend with the arms of Rome; and after a brief contest, ending with the battle of Corinth (146 B. c), the entire coun- try became an integral portion of the Roman empire. From the Roman conquest in 146 B. C, Greece was held as a dependency of the Byzantines {q, v.), the Franks, and the Turks till 1821, when the war of independence began with a revolt in the Danubian provinces. In January, 1822, the first National Assembly met in Epi- darus and framed a provisional consti- tution. In the same year occurred the massacre in Scio, by the Turks, re- ducing the population from 100,000 to 1,800. The Greek navy was exceedingly successful under the two daring Ad- mirals Miaoulis and Canaris, the latter of whom set fire to the Turkish ad- miral's flagship in the midst of the night at Tjesme, opposite the island of Chios, and destroyed several other Turkish men-of-war. In 1823 the Greeks cap- tured the Turkish camp at Carpenesion, but in 1826 the Turks captured Misso- longhi, its starving garrison having cut its way through the Turkish camp, and besieged Athens, receiving its surren- der in -June, 1827. About this time Eng- land, France, and Russia decided to in- tervene and sent their fleets, composed of a dozen vessels of each nation, to the port of Navarino, in the W. part of the Morea, to enforce an armistice. The Turkish and Egyptian fleets, composed of about 120 men-of-war, were anchored in that port. The Turks having fired on a boat with a flag of truce, killing a British officer, Oct. 20, 1826, the allied fleet opened fire on the Turko-Egyptian fleet and destroyed it completely, with a fearful loss of life. After this the Sultan became more pliable, and nego- tiations began among the Great Powers about the final status of Greece, which resulted in the establishment of the Greek kingdom by the treaty of London in 1830. At the close of the war Prince John of Saxony was offered the throne of Greece; on his refusal it was accepted conditionally by Leopold of Saxe-Coburg (later on King of the Belgians), who soon resigned because he insisted on more extended frontiers of the new kingdom. In 1833 Prince Otho, second son of King Ludwig, of Bavaria, was appointed king, and for 10 years the country was under Bavarian rule with- out a constitution. On Sept. 15, 1843, an insurrection of the garrison of Athens, under General Kallergis, forced the king to gi'ant a constitution, and a National Assembly was convoked to frame one, which was finally adopted March 16, 1844, enacting the establish- ment of a House of Representatives, called Boule, whose members were elected by universal suffrage, and a Sen- ate, whose members were selected by the king for life. But this charter, snatched thus by force from the king, was not honestly carried out, and great dissat- isfaction ensued. In 1862, while the king and queen were making a tour in the provinces, a rising took place at Athens, a provisional government composed of three members was elected, and the throne was declared vacant. The royal couple returned to Germany. In December following. Prince Alfred, the second son of Queen Victoria, wag elected king by universal suffrage. He was ineligible on account of being of the house of one of the protecting pow- ers. In 1863 Prince George, second son of King Christian of Denmark, was ap- pointed king by the protecting powers, and accepted by the people. He arrived in Greece in October, 1863. During his veign the development of Greece in every direction has been rapid. In 1897, owing to the massacres by the Turks in the island of Crete, the Greek Govern- ment announced its intention to inter- vene and landed surreptitiously a regi- ment of regulars. A war between Tur- key and Greece followed, in which Greece was defeated in Thessaly, and for a whole year that province was occupied by the Turks, but was evacu- ated finally by the latter on a payment by Greece of a war indemnity of $19,- 000,000. Later Turkey was forced by the Great Powers to evacuate Crete, and Prince George of Greece was installed by them as high commissioner for governing the island. He resigned in 1906 as a result of internal