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

250 THE WAR OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE
in Constantinople, and on the 16th of August they
presented to the Porte a final note, calling on the Ottoman
Government to arrange an armistice with the
Greeks, and threatening, in case of refusal, to take
any measures necessary to enforce it. 1 The Porte
iicsitated for a moment in face of the determined attitude
of the Powers, and Metternich used the moment's
delay for a last desperate diplomatic move.
The death
of Canning, too, which took place on the 8th of August,
promised to modify the policy of England, and
gave him some hope of still
being
able to reconstruct
the shattered edifice of his diplomacy. He proposed
to the Porte that Turkey should solicit the good offices
of Austria for a settlement of her differences with the
other Powers. 2
The Ottoman Government, glad of
any chance of retiring with dignity from a dangerous
attitude, or of any pretext for delay, hesitated for a
while, and finally, on the 20th of October, accepted
the Austrian proposal. But it was too late. At midday
on this same 20th of October, Admiral Codrington
had sailed his fleet into the bay of Navarino, and
before nightfall the proud armada of the Mussulmans,
which was to have crushed out the last spark of Hellenic
liberty, was drifting a mere tangled mass of
broken wreckage on the face of the waters.
i
Prokesch, Appendix, viii. 29. 2 /&. viii. 32.