ny use, so he sailed
away to Egypt, of which his father was then Viceroy for the Sultan, but
which he and his son have since made into a separate kingdom. It was in
October, 1828, that the Peloponnesus thus shook off the Turkish yoke.
It was thought best that a French army should be sent to hold the chief
fortresses in the Morea, because the Greeks quarrelled so among
themselves. In the meantime General Church went on driving the Turks
back in the northern parts of Greece, and Count Capo d'Istria was chosen
President, but he did not manage well, and gave the command of Western
Greece to his own dull brother, taking it away from General Church. It
seemed as if the Greeks would not know how to use their freedom now they
had gained it, for the Council and the President were always quarrelling,
and being jealous of each other; and there was falsehood, robbery,
treachery, and assassination everywhere. And yet everyone hoped that the
race that had stood so bravely all these years would improve now it was
free.
[Picture: Decorative chapter ending]
CHAP. XLV.--THE KINGDOM OF GREECE. 1822-1875.
[Picture: Decorative chapter heading]
The European powers who had taken the little nation of Greeks in charge,
finding that, as a republic with a president, they did nothing but
dispute and fight, insisted that the country should have a king, who
should govern by the help of a parliament.
But the difficulty was that nobody had any claim to be king, and the
Greeks were all so jealous of each other that there was no chance of
their submitting to one of themselves. The only royal family belonging
to their branch of the Church were the Russians; and France, England,
Austria, and all the rest were afraid of letting the great Russian power
get such a hold on the Mediterranean Sea as would come of Greece being
held by one of the brothers or sons of the Czar.
The first choice was very wise, for it was of one of the fittest men in
Europe, Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg; and he accepted their offer at
first, but when he had had time to hear more in letters from Count Capo
d'Istrias, and found what a dreadful state the country was in, and how
little notion the people had of truth, honour, or obedience, he thought
he should be able to do nothing with them, and refused to come to Greece.
In the meantime the Greeks went on worse than ever. Capo d'Istrias was
murdered by the son and brothe
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