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

220 THE WAR OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE
the sea, and scramble into their boats, before the
panic-stricken mob reached them. For the rest,
all that could be done was to turn the guns of the ships
upon the victorious Turks, and hold them at bay till
the fugitives could be taken off by the boats.
As it
was, 1,500 Greeks perished in this disgraceful rout.
The effects of the defeat were out of all proportion
to the importance of the battle. The English
officers,
whose arrival had been hailed with such unbounded
hope and enthusiasm, fell into discredit;
for
it was felt, with some justice, that the reverse was in
great part due to their defective judgment and their
lack of a true grasp of the situation. The army of
irregular warriors, which had only been held together
by the commanding personality of Karaiskakis, now
melted away like snow; and all
hope of driving Kiutayeh
from Attica, or of raising the siege of the Acropolis,
had to be abandoned. Of all the positions which
had been won in the recent fights, Munychia alone
remained in the hands of the Greeks.
Here Church
held out for three weeks longer, more for honour's
sake than for any end it could serve. On the 2Yth of
May, he abandoned this post also, and, before leaving,
he sent orders to the garrison of the Acropolis to surrender
the fortress. They refused with scorn. '
We
are Greeks/ they answered, '
and determined to live