The captain of 1850, grandfather of the old captain of today, suffered as he saw his small homeland under seige. Of course, Piraeus was not the only port. There were Syros, Patras, and Nafplion. But Piraeus was the capital’s port, and when the capital is under seige, so is the entire country.
It was only later, much later, that the grandson, who was now the grandfather, found out what the course of events had been. After the death of the Francophile Kolletis, in 1847, the appetite of the English was whetted again. But the general climate of the period was not favorable. So they waited for the revolution of 1848, which had shaken Europe, to die down before they took action.
Meanwhile, Greece was changing courtier
governments as if they were shirts: Tzavellas, Koundouriotis, Kanaris, Kriezis. Otto had been forced to grant a Constitution in 1944, after a bloodless revolution, but he kept violating it. He was still the
“tyrant,” the “traitor,” the “hyena,” the “foreign locust,” and his wife Amalia the “Greek Messalina.”
Lyons found her “very beautiful, but also very proud of her relations with the royal family of Russia. ” So where did this leave the English? How would they impose their politics on this small state that was so critical to the control of the Mediterranean? The captain of the past wrote: “England was determined to have total influence over Greece at any cost. Any other solution would be contrary to her interests. Just as Russia exercised its uncontested influence over the Serbo-Vlach countries, England wanted to control Greece. That was what the interests of England dictated. ”
One hundred years later, after the betrayal of the second insurrection, the problem would recur: instead of the czar there would be Stalin, instead of Palmerston, Churchill; the French would once again constitute a European guarantee.
But what should you do when others are fighting over your own interests? “A wise Greek government could benefit from these pernicious politics by flattering this colossus who, thanks to his floating fortresses, held in his hands the fate of our coasts, our navy, and our commerce. But where to find such a government? For five whole years British politics had been scorned in Greece. And yet one cannonball would be enough to end it all.”
And so the new ambassador, Wise, who was to replace Lyons (whom Otto and Amalia had not wanted and finally succeeded in getting rid of), arrived freshly pressed from the Foreign Office. A sour, querulous, disagreeable man, but a lover of ancient Greece, he found the opportunity, amidst the governmental instability, to dig up the old question of the islets of Sapiéntza and Elafónisos, north of Kythira, and to claim that they came under the jurisdiction of the Ionian State, which at the time was British. But since such an untimely claim could provoke the intervention of the protection powers, France and Russia, Wise first brought up British national Don Pacifico’s damage claim for the pillaging of his house by “Christian natives indignant at the ban of the burning of Judas.”
This claim consisted of 9,700 drachmas for money stolen; 12,000 drachmas for distress caused; 665,000
drachmas for the destruction of Portuguese letters of credit (how could one possibly verify that?), etc., etc., which came to a total of over 800,000 drachmas.
(“One hundred years later,” thought the narrator to himself, “in Athens, when the Italians handed over the city to the Germans, and they wanted to round up the Jews like they had done in Salonika, Archbishop Damaskinos started christening them; the chief of police issued certificates of christening that very day.
The ones who did not have time to get baptized were saved by E.A.M., which issued a proclamation to the people telling them to help the Jews escape to the mountains or to the Near East. Not a single one, not even half a one, was caught by the Nazis. Only the English played their dirty game again in 1948, by not letting them disembark when Israel became a state.”) The captain of the past knew nothing of all this.
All he knew was that he wanted to load up at Piraeus and set sail for Smyrna where a cargo of silk was waiting for him, and he couldn’t leave. Parker, the commander of the fleet, had sent an ultimatum with a time limit of twenty-four hours. As soon as the twenty-four hours were up, he declared the blockade.
“I went uptown. The people, looking solemn, are hurrying around the markets.” (That is to say they were stocking up on groceries.) “Opinions differ. Some speak of treason, others say it is a ruse, still others say it is a disciplinary action. But everyone agrees that the English are most violent. They insult, they besiege, they obstruct, they trample on the rights of Greece.
And meanwhile we expect help from Russia and France. Presently, perhaps we will see the English at the gates of the capital, and we will still be expecting help from Russia and France.”
Nowadays we say: “the blockade lasted forty-two days.” But with every day that passed, the people’s anxiety grew stronger and their desperation deeper.
“Oh, if only Greece were a great nation! If only we could put forward a Greek breast against the violence and, sword in hand, take revenge upon those who insult us! But alas! Greece is too small for that.
That is why, in 1832, it was enclosed within such narrow borders. We are therefore forced to swallow our indignation. Goddesses of justice and liberty, look over this unfortunate nation. Let Greece survive and may we all die. Let the independence of our homeland be preserved, and may we all be sent in chains to the English penal colonies….”
The blockade lasted into the harsh winter.
February is always the worst time of year. It is a month that represents a certain blocking of the economy. But to have a second blockade on one’s hands was too much. What was going to happen? The cold was becoming more intense. The people were beginning to suffer from hunger.
“To put our faith in Europe or to wait for Russia and France to come to our defense is consoling and heartening; however, it does not diminish the imminent danger. By the time Europe speaks up, by the time Paris and Saint Petersburg exchange notifications, and by the time the matter is brought to the Council of London, our commerce will have been lost and our shipping annihilated.”
And even so, a forty-two-day blockade isn’t such a big deal, compared to other national catastrophes: wars, epidemics, civil strife. Compared to what had preceded and what succeeded it. However, it remains a question in need of an answer.
“The French steamship is expected like a Messiah. Everyone’s eyes are turned to Piraeus and people keep asking: ‘Has the steamship arrived? It will tell us the wishes of France. It will tell us how the action of England was received by Europe. It will tell us whether Palmerston has agreed to the two protective powers being arbitrators.’ One can easily imagine with what wildly beating hearts we are all waiting for the fire vessel from France.”
Because there are fire vessel dreams, and
pyromaniac dreams, and self-igniting dreams, blocks of dreams and dreams of blockades, and Holocaust dreams….
“It was rumored today that Palmerston will only accept the intervention of France. It is an unofficial rumor. What is certain is that Europe took a very dim view of the actions of the English fleet. An article from the French newspaper Debates, sent from Trieste, speaks acrimoniously of England. Notes were exchanged once again between the British ambassador and the Greek government concerning the islands Sapíentza and Elafónissos. But the problem of the islets is insignificant. The important issue is to have satisfaction. The compensation of Don Pacifico is a question of honor, according to the English, and for this I fear there will be terrible consequences. As an impartial spectator, I will await, with tears in my eyes, the fate of our nation.”