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

348 THE WAR OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE
writhed under the capricious and irresponsible tyranny
of Yiaro Capodistrias.
If this was Liberty, they might
well begrudge the cost at which it had been purchased.
Their once flourishing island was on the verge of ruin ;
their wharves deserted, their vessels rotting in the port.
The self-chosen fate which bound them to a government
whose chief was trying to stave off national bankruptcy
by a ruinous fiscal policy threatened to destroy
the last remnants of their prosperity. Already many
of their merchants had transferred their business to
islands which still
enjoyed the blessings
of Turkish
rule; and the rest threatened to follow. These were
the results of the immense sacrifices which the Hydriots
had made for the cause of Greece, and for which, so.
far from receiving any compensation, they had received
not even recognition.
The Government was in
their debt for losses and damage they had sustained in
the national service,
and they presented a claim for
fifteen million francs. Capodistrias, after some prevarication,
finally offered six millions in full satisfaction
of the demand. The Hydriots refused in wrath,
and their breach with the Government was final. 1
Hydra now became the focus of a huge conspiracy,
which soon extended all over the archipelago, and
which had for its end the establishment of a constitui
Mendelssohn, ii. 224.