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

GOVERNMENT OF CAPODISTKIAS 287
By such a man, with such antecedents, the
problem of restoring the chaos of Greek affairs to
order would be approached only in one way. He
found a government, in theory democratic, liberal,
and ' revolutionary/ in practice, impotent
to create
or to maintain a semblance of order. Not unnaturally
he came to the conclusion that the practice was
the result of the theory, and that the first thing to be
done was to supersede the system which had been
productive of nothing but anarchy and distress by
one which should prove more effective in restoring
order and prosperity. He set to work then without
delay to substitute for constitutional government a
bureaucratic regime based on the Russian model,
with himself as its sole central and motive power.
His method of effecting the revolution was marked
by characteristic disingenuousness. By a threat of
immediate retirement in case of refusal, he first of
all forced the Senate to abrogate the Constitution of
Troezene, In a proclamation which he issued on the
1st of February, he then pretended that this had been
done because the constitution had not given him sufficient
powers to guarantee the independence of Greece;
and he promised to summon a new National Convention
for April, undertaking, meanwhile, to
base his
government on the principles of the three constitu-