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

132 THE WAR OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE
wealthy Hydriot ship-owner, as President, but Kolettes,
the astute Epirote, as its
moving spirit.
To this action of the Government Kolokotrones
replied by collecting some thirty-five members of the
Assembly at Tripolitza,
and there setting up an opposition
government. At the same time he began
to collect his bands in Elis and Arcadia, strengthened
the defences of the Acrocorinthos, and handed over
the command of Nauplia to his son Panos;
while the
influence of Petrobey assured him the support of the
Mainotes in Messenia. The Government, on the other
hand, could reckon, in the Morea, only on the support
of Corinth, which was held by Notaras, and of Achaia
and a part of Arcadia, where the influence of the primates
Londos and Zaimis was supreme.
was still
held by Odysseus, who played
East Hellas
of course entirely
for his own hand, and could be relied upon by
neither party. West Hellas, on the other hand, remained,
under Mavrocordatos, true to the Government.
Konduriottes, the new President, owed his elevation
solely to his great wealth, which gave him an influence
quite out of proportion to his capacity. In
private life he was jovial and good-tempered, and, as
a statesman, his riches placed him above the suspicion
of corruption; but he was dull, obstinate, and ignorant,
and, above all, full of Hydriot prejudices, which