The Story of Mankind [150]
forced to make their
choice.
Metternich hesitated. Personally he would have been willing
to risk the displeasure of the United States (which had
allowed both its army and navy to fall into neglect since the end
of the Anglo-American war of the year 1812.) But Canning's
threatening attitude and trouble on the continent forced him
to be careful. The expedition never took place and South
America and Mexico gained their independence.
As for the troubles on the continent of Europe, they were
coming fast and furious. The Holy Alliance had sent French
troops to Spain to act as guardians of the peace in the year
1820. Austrian troops had been used for a similar purpose in
Italy when the ``Carbonari'' (the secret society of the Charcoal
Burners) were making propaganda for a united Italy and had
caused a rebellion against the unspeakable Ferdinand of
Naples.
Bad news also came from Russia where the death of Alexander
had been the sign for a revolutionary outbreak in St.
Petersburg, a short but bloody upheaval, the so-called Dekaberist
revolt (because it took place in December,) which ended
with the hanging of a large number of good patriots who had
been disgusted by the reaction of Alexander's last years and
had tried to give Russia a constitutional form of government.
But worse was to follow. Metternich had tried to assure
himself of the continued support of the European courts by a
series of conferences at Aix-la-Chapelle at Troppau at
Laibach and finally at Verona. The delegates from the
different powers duly travelled to these agreeable watering
places where the Austrian prime minister used to spend
his summers. They always promised to do their best
to suppress revolt but they were none too certain of their
success. The spirit of the people was beginning to be ugly and
especially in France the position of the king was by no means
satisfactory.
The real trouble however began in the Balkans, the gateway
to western Europe through which the invaders of that
continent had passed since the beginning of time. The first
outbreak was in Moldavia, the ancient Roman province of
Dacia which had been cut off from the Empire in the third
century. Since then, it had been a lost land, a sort of Atlantis,
where the people had continued to speak the old Roman tongue
and still called themselves Romans and their country Roumania.
Here in the year 1821, a young Greek, Prince Alexander
Ypsilanti, began a revolt against the Turks. He told his followers
that they could count upon the support of Russia. But
Metternich's fast couriers were soon on their way to St Petersburg
and the Tsar, entirely persuaded by the Austrian arguments
in favor of ``peace and stability,'' refused to help. Ypsilanti
was forced to flee to Austria where he spent the next seven
years in prison.
In the same year, 1821, trouble began in Greece. Since
1815 a secret society of Greek patriots had been preparing
the way for a revolt. Suddenly they hoisted the flag of
independence in the Morea (the ancient Peloponnesus) and drove
the Turkish garrisons away. The Turks answered in the usual
fashion. They took the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople,
who was regarded as their Pope both by the Greeks and by
many Russians, and they hanged him on Easter Sunday of the
year 1821, together with a number of his bishops. The Greeks
came back with a massacre of all the Mohammedans in
Tripolitsa, the capital of the Morea and the Turks retaliated
by an attack upon the island of Chios, where they murdered
25,000 Christians and sold 45,000 others as slaves into Asia and
Egypt.
Then the Greeks appealed to the European courts, but
Metternich told them in so many words that they could ``stew
in their own grease,'' (I am not trying to make a pun, but I
am quoting His Serene Highness who informed the Tsar that
this ``fire of revolt ought to burn itself out beyond the pale
choice.
Metternich hesitated. Personally he would have been willing
to risk the displeasure of the United States (which had
allowed both its army and navy to fall into neglect since the end
of the Anglo-American war of the year 1812.) But Canning's
threatening attitude and trouble on the continent forced him
to be careful. The expedition never took place and South
America and Mexico gained their independence.
As for the troubles on the continent of Europe, they were
coming fast and furious. The Holy Alliance had sent French
troops to Spain to act as guardians of the peace in the year
1820. Austrian troops had been used for a similar purpose in
Italy when the ``Carbonari'' (the secret society of the Charcoal
Burners) were making propaganda for a united Italy and had
caused a rebellion against the unspeakable Ferdinand of
Naples.
Bad news also came from Russia where the death of Alexander
had been the sign for a revolutionary outbreak in St.
Petersburg, a short but bloody upheaval, the so-called Dekaberist
revolt (because it took place in December,) which ended
with the hanging of a large number of good patriots who had
been disgusted by the reaction of Alexander's last years and
had tried to give Russia a constitutional form of government.
But worse was to follow. Metternich had tried to assure
himself of the continued support of the European courts by a
series of conferences at Aix-la-Chapelle at Troppau at
Laibach and finally at Verona. The delegates from the
different powers duly travelled to these agreeable watering
places where the Austrian prime minister used to spend
his summers. They always promised to do their best
to suppress revolt but they were none too certain of their
success. The spirit of the people was beginning to be ugly and
especially in France the position of the king was by no means
satisfactory.
The real trouble however began in the Balkans, the gateway
to western Europe through which the invaders of that
continent had passed since the beginning of time. The first
outbreak was in Moldavia, the ancient Roman province of
Dacia which had been cut off from the Empire in the third
century. Since then, it had been a lost land, a sort of Atlantis,
where the people had continued to speak the old Roman tongue
and still called themselves Romans and their country Roumania.
Here in the year 1821, a young Greek, Prince Alexander
Ypsilanti, began a revolt against the Turks. He told his followers
that they could count upon the support of Russia. But
Metternich's fast couriers were soon on their way to St Petersburg
and the Tsar, entirely persuaded by the Austrian arguments
in favor of ``peace and stability,'' refused to help. Ypsilanti
was forced to flee to Austria where he spent the next seven
years in prison.
In the same year, 1821, trouble began in Greece. Since
1815 a secret society of Greek patriots had been preparing
the way for a revolt. Suddenly they hoisted the flag of
independence in the Morea (the ancient Peloponnesus) and drove
the Turkish garrisons away. The Turks answered in the usual
fashion. They took the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople,
who was regarded as their Pope both by the Greeks and by
many Russians, and they hanged him on Easter Sunday of the
year 1821, together with a number of his bishops. The Greeks
came back with a massacre of all the Mohammedans in
Tripolitsa, the capital of the Morea and the Turks retaliated
by an attack upon the island of Chios, where they murdered
25,000 Christians and sold 45,000 others as slaves into Asia and
Egypt.
Then the Greeks appealed to the European courts, but
Metternich told them in so many words that they could ``stew
in their own grease,'' (I am not trying to make a pun, but I
am quoting His Serene Highness who informed the Tsar that
this ``fire of revolt ought to burn itself out beyond the pale