THE WAR OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE 1821 TO 1833 BY W.ALISON PHILLIPS 1897

114 THE WAR OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE
dismissed his Greek Minister, Capodistrias.
the diplomacy of Metternich had triumphed.
Thus far
For a
moment, however, it seemed as though the war between
Russia and Turkey which he dreaded was on the
point of breaking out. Certain Hydriot brigs, sailing
under the Russian flag, had been seized in the Dardanelles
by order of the Porte; and the Ottoman Government,
thinking it intolerable that hostile vessels should,
under cover of a neutral flag, defy
it at its
very doors,
thereupon claimed and exercised the right to stop and
search all ships passing through the straits.
This action
still further increased the tension already existing
between the two Governments. To the protests of
Russia the Porte replied by a polite but firm insistence
on what it considered to be its rights;
and for some
time the situation appeared extremely critical.
But
Metternich was anxious, at all hazards, to prevent
Russo-Turkish complications; and, above all, to prevent
the Greek question from becoming entangled with
those that were purely Russian. 1 He now moved
heaven and earth to persuade the Porte to concede the
Russian demands; and in this he was vigorously seconded
by Lord Strangford, the English Ambassador at
Constantinople, whose policy at all times was but a reflection
of that of the Austrian Chancellor. 2
i
Mendelssohn, i. 307. 2 ibid.
Their