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

840 THE WAR OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE
the Black Sea and of the JSgean was conceded, as well
as the right of the Cretans to sail under their own flag.
There were to be in future no extraordinary burdens
levied, and the inhabitants were to elect their own local
officials.
These, and certain minor reforms, seemed
To
to assure the Cretans a fair measure of liberty.
Samos also was conceded the right of dealing direct
with the Porte through its own elected representatives,
instead of, as heretofore, through the Capitan
Pasha.
The prospect of these islands becoming contented
under the Ottoman rule did not suit the purposes of
the Greeks;
and emissaries were accordingly sent who
succeeded in persuading the Cretans and Samians to
refuse all concessions. Soon afterwards, the Ottoman
Government, weary of the turbulent island, sold Crete
to Mehemet Ali for 25,000,000 piastres.
Upon this,
Grabusa, which, since the destruction of the pirate
stronghold, had been held by the allied fleets, was
handed over to the Egyptians. Large numbers of
fugitives were brought by the war-ships of the allies,
and by Kanaris, to Greece, where they formed an additional
drain on the slender resources of the Government.
Such, for the time being, was the fate of
Crete.
On the mainland everything remained as yet un-