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

RISING AT PATRAS 49
warned two days earlier of the occurrences at
Kalavryta,
and had occupied the citadel, whence for fortyeight
hours they had bombarded the town; while,
among the burning ruins, fanatical bands of Christians
and Moslems massacred each other without mercy.
The arrival of Germanos and the primates was hailed
Avith delight by the Greeks ;
and it was hoped that the
citadel would now be speedily reduced. With an imposing
religious ceremonial a crucifix was erected in the
central square of the town, and a proclamation issued
in the name of the Greek leaders, containing merely
these emphatic words, * Peace to the Christians! Respect
to the consuls ! Death to the Turks.' * The sole
immediate result, however, of the rising at Patras was
the destruction of a once flourishing town. The
Greeks, a mere undisciplined rabble, commanded by
leaders of no experience, and divided by mutual jealousies,
could not reduce the citadel ;
and when this was
relieved, on the 15th of April, by Yussuf Pasha, Germanos
and his followers were forced to retire into the
mountains. Many subsequent attempts were made to
reduce Patras, but with no better success; and the
place remained in the hands of the Turks till after the
retirement of Ibrahim from the Morea in 1828.
While the bishops and primates were thus raising
4
i
Gordon, i. 148.