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

278 THE WAR OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE
replied, moodily, that it seemed that Austria too would
soon be numbered among the enemies of Islam; but
the importunity of Metternich so far prevailed, that
the Ottoman Government was induced to explain
away the Haiti-sheriff, and even to consent to open
negotiations on the basis of the Treaty of London.
But it was too late. Russia had no desire to come to
terms; and on the 6th of May her army crossed the
Pruth.
For Greece, then, the direct result of the Battle
of !Navarino was that, after years of waiting and
struggle, the great Orthodox power, from which in the
early days of the revolution so much had been expected,
had at last come to her rescue, none the less
effectually that her motives were entirely selfish. After
years of heroic effort, the Hellenes had begun to
despair of success. Everywhere, in the islands, on the
continent, and in the Morea, the Turks had once more
gained the upper hand; the means for further resistance
were exhausted; the heroes of the first
hopeful
years were dead the reckless enthusiasm
;
of the people
crushed out under the accumulated weight of their
misfortunes. Indeed, the very people whom it was
desired to free seemed no longer to exist. Of the once
thriving population nothing was visible to the passing
traveller, but here and there, some hollow-eyed shad-