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

238 THE WAR OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE
up the championship of the Hellenic cause, which
Russia, under the influence of Metternich and Canning's
predecessor, Castlereagh, had hitherto declined.
But if the Greeks were to find a friend, it was intolerable
that that friend should be England, and the Czar's
government determined to anticipate her possible action.
In January 1824, accordingly, a proposal, which
has already been mentioned, was laid before the various
courts by the Russian representatives. 1
This plan,
however, which proposed to erect the three provinces
of the Morea, and East and West Hellas, into tributary
principalities
lachia, found favour with no one.
on the model of Moldavia and Wal-
The Greeks themselves
rejected it with scorn and indignation; and
Canning refused to consider any scheme that did not
recognise the right of the Greeks to mould their own
destinies. 2 Conferences were indeed opened at St.
Petersburg to attempt to reach an agreement; but
Canning ordered the British representative to
withdraw,
8 and, though the other plenipotentiaries remained,
the diplomatic debate dragged on without arriving
at any result. The motive underlying the Russian
proposals was indeed too clear to deceive anyone,
much less
the astute diplomacy of Metternich, who,
while, in the interests of the Holy Alliance, he desired
* Prokesch-Osten, i. 249. 2 Id. i. 311-314. 3 Id. i. 319.