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

224 THE WAR OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE
decisive action was fought. Ibraham for the time was
powerless; Mehemet Ali had sent him no reinforcements;
his troops were worn out and demoralised;
and in November he retired into winter quarters at
Modon, where he remained until April 1827.
The
Greeks, relieved from the most pressing dangers, were
free to waste their energies in talk, and their strength
in suicidal strife.
The fall of Missolonghi had brought
to a head
the furious discontent of the people with the selfish
and incompetent government of Konduriottes, who
was compelled to bow to the storm, and resign the
Presidency. Zaimis was elected in his place, and a
governing committee of eight members formed, from
which both Konduriottes and Kolokotrones were excluded.
This was the signal for the beginning of a
still more furious war of parties; and even the Philhellenic
sympathies of Europe were torn to shreds to
form the ensigns of hostile factions, which dubbed
themselves English, French, or Russian, according to
the nation whose interference they most favoured. It
was characteristic also that the party divisions, even
under these alien designations, followed local divisions.
Miaoulis, Mavrocordatos, and the islanders generally
were ' English/ The Moreots declared for Russia,
following the lead of Kolokotrones, who hated