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

884 THE WAR OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE
The Senate now once more stepped into the breach,
and, after negotiating with the Residents, appointed a
governing Committee. In this, Kolettes was included ;
but, as the remaining four members were either openly
or secretly hostile to him, he insisted on the impossibility
of carrying on the Government under these circumstances,
and enforced his views by the very practical
argument of summoning
him at Pronia. The
the remainder of his
troops to join Residents, recognising
the soundness of his objections, and anxious to
avoid the battle which now seemed imminent between
the hostile factions, prevailed on the Senate to reconstitute
the Committee, which was ultimately composed
of seven members, of whom four were partisans
of Kolettes.
Kolettes had now attained the object for which he
had plotted and schemed so long, and was, in the eyes
of all, the virtual ruler of Hellas. Originally physisian
to Ali Pasha, he had learned in the corrupt court
of Janina all the meaner arts of political activity.
He
was cunning and plausible, and a solemn and reticent
demeanour had given him, among the volatile Greeks,
a reputation for wisdom which was not altogether
founded on fact. At the outset of his career at the
helm of state, he was confronted with difficulties which
would have made a wiser man despair.
He soon dis-