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

FIRST CIVIL WAR 131
have triumphed ;
but the Government at Kranidi possessed
many elements of strength which, now that it
was removed from the immediate danger of intimidation
at the hands of the military chiefs, began to assert
themselves. It had the prestige of legitimacy; it possessed
in Mavrocordatos a man who was regarded by
the opinion of Europe as the constitutional leader of
Greece, and in Kolettes the only
one of the Greek
chiefs who could combine the spirit of the old barbarism
with that of the new culture;
1
and, above all, it
alone would dispose of the loans which were at
this
time being raised in Europe, of which the arrival was
already rumoured abroad. This
last indeed, was the
factor that ultimately determined the victory
of the
Government; for, in Greece, even more than elsewhere,
he who held the purse-strings held the reins of
power.
The Government now determined to make a vigorous
effort to reassert its authority. It had already
opened the struggle by demanding
the surrender of
Nauplia, and openly accusing Kolokotrones of peculation.
It now put Petrobey and Karalampos on their
trial, deposed Metaxas, and deprived Kolokotrones
of the supreme command of the forces; while a new
executive council was created,
with Konduriottes, a
iProkesch,
i. 274.