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

300 THE WAR OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE
now doubly anxious to rid the Morea of the presence
of Ibrahim. The Russian invasion had withdrawn the
mass of the Turkish troops from continental Greece;
and it would have been easy to reconquer
all that
had been won from the Greeks by Reshid; but as
long as Ibrahim remained in the south it was impossible
for the Hellenic forces to leave the Morea. Under
these circumstances the President once more earnestly
pressed the admirals to compel the withdrawal of the
Egyptian army and in ; July a conference was held by
them at Zante, at which it was decided l to facilitate
the sailing of a fleet of transports from Alexandria, to
carry away Ibrahim's forces. If,
however, the hopes
of Egyptian transports should prove deceptive, everything
possible would have been done/
Admiral Codrington, without authority from
above, and without consulting any one, determined
that the hopes should not prove deceptive. He sailed
to Alexandria, and, on the 9th of August, arranged a
treaty with Mehemet Ali, providing for an exchange
of prisoners, and for the immediate evacuation of the
Morea.
The strong and frank personality of the British
admiral is said to have exercised a great influence
over the mind of the Viceroy;
but the determining
factor in the negotiations was of course the impending
French expedition, which both were aware of, but