The heroism
which her people displayed in their unequal battle with the
Turks attracted the attention and sympathy of many persons all
over the world, especially those who saw in the modern Greek the
representative of the race which had once been the intellectual
leader of Europe. The powers of the Holy Alliance, however, were
inclined to regard the outbreak with coldness, seeing in it a
fresh manifestation of the then growing disposition of European
peoples to rise against the tyranny of their anointed kings.
England held aloof from their conferences in regard to the
matter, trusting to their discordant interests to break up their
concert of action, since the Russian czar, as the head of the
Greek faith, might be counted upon in the long run to befriend
the Greeks, especially as such a step would carry the Russian
influence into the Balkan Peninsula and mark a full stride
toward Constantinople, then as now the goal of Russian ambition.
Canning employed Wellington to negotiate an agreement at St.
Petersburg for the rescue of Greece. Ultimately England, Russia,
and France signed a protocol which was to establish Greece as a
self-governing state, tributary to the Porte, but free in
matters of commerce and religion. In 1827 the three powers
demanded an armistice looking toward a treaty settlement, and
threatened to use force to compel a cessation of hostilities.
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