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

386 THE WAR OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE
pressing question was how to rid himself of the soldiers
whom he had brought into the Morea, and who, to the
number of seven or eight thousand, were living at free
quarters upon the unhappy population. Every day
that they remained increased the bitterness of the hostility
of the Moreots to his rule; and yet, in the absence
of any money to discharge
the arrears of their
pay, it was impossible to induce them to recross the
Isthmus. In Patras, and in Nauplia itself, there were
signs of open insurrection ; and, in his extremity, Kolettes
had been compelled to call in the French to his
aid. On the 20th of May, twelve hundred men, under
General Corbet, marched into Nauplia, and occupied
the castles of Itsh-Kale and Palamidi. At Patras, however,
they had been anticipated.
The Suliot Djavellas
entered the town before the French detachment could
reach it,
roused the inhabitants by telling them that
the Government had sold them to the foreigners,
and prepared to hold the place against all comers.
The French, finding that their occupation would
be opposed, did not attempt to take the town;
and
a force which Kolettes subsequently sent against
it fraternised
with the troops of Djavellas, who remained
in possession of Patras till the arrival of King
Otho.
A new National Assembly was now summoned for