The Greek Revolution, A Critical Dictionary, Paschalis M. Kitromilides, Constantinos Tsoukalas, March 25, 2021

the greek revolution 326
even by Greece. The diplomatic strug gle waged by the Samiots in this period
was to no avail. Capodistrias was interested primarily in including in the fledgling
state those nonliberated regions closest to it, namely Attica and Euboea,
which were still in Ottoman hands, and was little concerned with distant Samos.
The Ottoman Empire, which had been defeated at sea (1827) and on land during
the Turkish- Russian War (1829), and was involved in its conflict with Mohammed
Ali of Egypt (1831–1833), was unable to support its integrity by military means;
nonetheless, it was still a power to be reckoned with.
On Samos, power rested completely with the General Assembly of the representatives
of the villages, who did not agree with delivering their island to the
empire. Their strongest argument was that they had gained their freedom with
victory over the Sublime Porte. As director general of administrative affairs in the
Samian state, Logothetis Lykourgos became the dispatcher of decisions taken by
the General Assembly. The assembly de cided and he was obliged to execute.
And although he gave account of his actions to the body of plenipotentiaries, he
was unable to take initiatives beyond their decisions. The only concession that
the Eu ro pean powers made regarding the Samos question was to designate for
the island in the London Protocol of 1832 a regime of autonomous principality
under the suzerainty of the sultan. The protocol obliged the sultan to issue an
organic statute regulating the operation of the new po liti cal system to be instituted
on Samos. The General Assemblies, both of the villages and of the whole
island, did not accept this regime, which foresaw a declaration of submission
and a swingeing tribute. They rejected outright and unequivocally every related
proposal made either by the great powers or the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
The end of the Samian state and of the revolution on Samos was dramatic.
In May 1834, the Eu ro pean powers permitted the Sublime Porte to impose,
by military means, the regime of autonomous principality, while the Samian
leadership— political, military, and religious— with a host of Karmanioloi and
other Samiots who had taken part in the revolution, were forced to migrate to
free Greece, which meant permanent exile from their native isle. Most of the
Samiot mi grants settled in areas of Euboea, on lands ceded to them by the Greek
government.
To conclude, the singularity of the Samian Revolution of 1821 lay in its duration
(1821–1834); the participants’ deep conviction that it was a just cause; the
unwavering application of the local military- political system of governance,
which was strengthened during the Samian state (1830–1834); the Enlightenment
ideas that had filtered through to a large part of the island’s population,
as this manifested itself through general assemblies; and its enlightened leadership,
which expressed demo cratic ideas in theory and in practice. What ever
text on Samos in 1821 one may study, whether letters, encyclicals, commands,