William St. Clair on 19th century Greece and the Modern Greeks - Part 6
Risto Stefov
December 03, 2008
Modern Greeks for the last century or so have been spreading untruths about themselves and now generations later have forgotten who they really are.
This series of articles is a means of letting the Greeks know who they are. And for those who ask, "Why am I doing this?" I am doing this because nowadays Greeks have forgotten who they are and where they come from and have become so brazen that they dare to attack others like the Macedonians and question their identity without giving it a second thought as to the damage they are doing.
When people deny other peoples´ ethnic identity they deny their right to exist and as such those people have no choice but to fight back. But unlike the Greeks who fight with half-truths and untruths Macedonians have the truth on their side.
What follows are excerpts from William St. Clair´s book "That Greece Might Still be Free, The Philhellenes in the War of Independence" who speaks the truth about 19th century Greece and the Modern Greeks.
"The survivors [volunteers in the Greek uprising in Morea] who began to reach home in 1822 and 1823 were scarred in body and mind. Having had exaggerated expectations in the first place, their disillusion was now unrestrained. Almost without exception they now hated the Greeks with a deep loathing, and cursed themselves for their stupidity in having been deceived. To their consternation they discovered on their return that their old friends were still as ignorant of what was occurring in Greece as when they had set out; that public opinion was overwhelmingly pro-Greek; and that volunteers were still leaving home to go to Greece with the same philhellenic slogans on their lips." (p. 114)
"Even more galling, when they told people of what they had seen and suffered, their stories were received with polite incredulity, discounted as the biased accounts of men with a personal grudge." (p. 115)
"The Greek Societies seem at first to have deliberately tried to suppress any suggestion of unpleasantness. Returned Philhellenes were given a small sum of money with the broad hint that they were to go away and keep quiet. When letters appeared in the newspapers describing conditions in Greece, the Societies put about the story that the individuals concerned were untrustworthy and untypical. When the brother of the leader of the Stuttgart Greek Society returned from Greece and confirmed the reports, even he was silenced." (p. 115)
"Philhellenism was a sturdy plant with deep roots. It could not be easily eradicated. Although the leaders of the Societies were undoubtedly guilty of suppression of uncomfortable facts, they were honest men on the whole. As with so many believers in great causes, their minds could not readily assimilate the notion that the picture they imagined of Modern Greece was not the real one. Facts are poor weapons against such deep-seated beliefs. The returning Philhellenes for their part were in no mood to help the Societies to make the adjustment easily." (p. 115)
"They did not realize that they were victims of an idea. Their resentment needed a more concrete target. They turned on the Societies, on the professors, the priests, and the merchants, and accused them of every crime from maladministration to willfully sending men to their deaths. Mainly, however, they were simply concerned to convince people that the common notion of Greece was wrong, to save others from falling into the same delusions as they had; and to clear their names of the implied stigma of having proved inadequate to the great ideal. They were seized with an overwhelming desire to shout ´It is not true´ in the market place of every town with a Greek Society." (p. 115)
"During the time when the Philhellenes were away, the Societies had continued their propaganda as best they could. In the countries where censorship was lax, absurd stories about the Greek Revolution had flowed from the presses. No story was too tall to be acceptable and one is tempted to believe the charge that some Societies deliberately manufactured their own news. As one writer put it, letters ´were fabricated at Augsburg, Paris, and London, the three great mints of Philhellenic mendacity." (p. 115)
"….Supplementary laboratories existed at Zante, Trieste, Frankfurt, and Stuttgart. A Swedish Philhellene, picking up a copy of an Augsburg newspaper of September 1822 on his way back, read with amused horror a letter allegedly by a Philhellene which put the size of Mavrocordato´s army at 25,000 and described in detail the ribbons and medals issued to the troops. The first reports of the Battle of Peta described it as a great victory."
"Its location was transferred to the more familiar Thermopylae, three pashas were said to have been captured, and General Normann´s soldiers to have carried him in triumph from the battlefield on their shields! The engraving reproduced as Plate 5 shows a European view of what was happening in Greece. The Greeks and Philhellenes are standing in close order like a European army. The Turks are fighting with bows and arrows." (p.116)
"The Societies did, however, make an honest effort to publish genuine accounts by men who had gone to Greece. One of the first, published in Leipzig, consisted of a series of letters of a theology student, Feldhann, who accompanied General Normann. The author had, however, been killed at Peta before his confident descriptions of the voyage out and of the welcome in Greece appeared in Europe." (p. 116)
"The Societies also seized on an account by a young French naval officer, Voutier, which was published in Paris. It was translated twice into German with laudatory introductions by the Societies. Unfortunately this Frenchman was a shameless liar, describing himself as playing a leading role in many events at which he was not even present." (p. 116)
"Faced with a public intent on believing what it wanted, the disillusioned Philhellenes turned to the pen. Many had consoled themselves through their misery in Greece by keeping diaries. Although some who had promised themselves that they would tell their story when they went home later gave up their intention, an astonishing number of accounts were printed. In the two years after the expeditions had sailed from Marseilles virtually every district which had furnished Philhellenes had the opportunity of reading the story of a disappointed local hero." (p. 116)
"These accounts make sad reading. Some are the disorganized productions of men unused to writing, others are ghost-written, others are anonymous to protect their authors from reprisals. The fact that so many did eventually appear in print attests the earnestness of the authors. The effort which it cost them to write these little books is described in the prefaces – how the authors abandoned and restarted the work but ultimately completed it out of indignation or pity for new victims, or how they had made solemn promises to their comrades in Greece to publish the truth." (p. 116)
"Almost without exception these books were written in ignorance that other such books were being published in neighbouring towns. They have an unmistakable ring of spontaneity. Again and again the same sentiments are repeated. ´I am writing this to warn others against the mistakes which I made´; ´Modern Greece is not the same as Ancient Greece´; ´The Greeks are a cruel, barbarian, ungrateful race´; ´I apologize for the unscholarly style of a simple soldier. The writers are bitter, unrestrained, inaccurate, and unbalanced. Few showed that their experiences in Greece had really increased their understanding of the forces at work in the situation. (p. 116, 117)
"Gradually they had their effect. But they were not in time to prevent the last and greatest enterprise of the South German and Swiss Greek Societies." (p. 117)
"For a time the bandwagon rolled as they had hoped. Men allowed their names to be added to the Committee´s membership out of respect or liking for Byron and the apparent widening of the political base of the Committee induced others to join. But, despite appearances, the vast majority of the distinguished men whose names ornamented the London Greek Committee took no part in its activities. Throughout its life it was exclusively administered by a small group of doctrinaire Benthamites. It was only when he reached Greece that Byron was to begin to appreciate the true nature of the London Greek Committee with whom he had tied his fortunes and his reputation. The process of disenchantment was to be a painful one. (p. 153)
"A few days after Blaquiere left Genoa, another episode turned Byron´s thoughts to Greece. Two German Philhellenes, a Wurttemberger and a Bavarian, knowing his reputation for kindness, came to beg help to pay for their journey back to Germany. They had both been members of General Normann´s party and the Wurttemberger had been present at Peta. Leaving Greece together in September 1822 they had wandered from island to island and eventually reached Smyrna. They had benefited from the kindness of the French consul and had been given a free passage to Ancona, but at Trieste they had been turned back by the Austrians. They now had no money, clothes, or shoes." (p. 153)
"Byron took a personal interest in the two men and invited them to his house several times before sending them happily on their way. He was able to converse about the places which he had visited in his youth and his mind was drawn back to happier days. He examined them closely about the state of affairs in Greece and learnt a good deal of more or less accurate information about the attitude of the Greeks to foreigners and their aversion to European methods of warfare." (p. 153)
"The two young men were clearly typical of the best of the 1822 generation of Philhellenes. As Byron wrote in a letter to Bowring: ´Both are very simple, full of Naivete, and quite unpretending: they say the foreigners quarreled among themselves, particularly the French with the Germans, which produced duels….One of them means to publish his Journal of the campaign. The Bavarian wonders a little that the Greeks are not quite the same with them of the time of Themistocles." (p. 153)
"After the visit of the Germans, Byron´s enthusiasm for an expedition to Greece grew rapidly. Everyone with whom he discussed the idea pressed him to indulge his wishes. Count Gamba, the young brother of Byron´s mistress, who had shared in the debacle of the revolution in Central Italy, was bursting like so many of his countrymen to continue the struggle…" (p. 153)
In spite of Greece´s artificiality today one can proudly call him or herself a "Hellene" with a 4,000 year old heritage, with roots extending back to the classical Greeks of 2,000 years ago but a real and genuine Macedonian cannot call him or herself a Macedonian because according to modern Greek logic "Macedonia is Greek" and "there is no such thing as a Macedonian"!
Many thanks to TrueMacedonian for his contribution to this article.
Source:
St. Clair, William. That Greece Might Still be Free, The Philhellenes in the War of Independence. London: Oxford University Press, 1972.
To be Continued
You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
This series of articles is a means of letting the Greeks know who they are. And for those who ask, "Why am I doing this?" I am doing this because nowadays Greeks have forgotten who they are and where they come from and have become so brazen that they dare to attack others like the Macedonians and question their identity without giving it a second thought as to the damage they are doing.
When people deny other peoples´ ethnic identity they deny their right to exist and as such those people have no choice but to fight back. But unlike the Greeks who fight with half-truths and untruths Macedonians have the truth on their side.
What follows are excerpts from William St. Clair´s book "That Greece Might Still be Free, The Philhellenes in the War of Independence" who speaks the truth about 19th century Greece and the Modern Greeks.
"The survivors [volunteers in the Greek uprising in Morea] who began to reach home in 1822 and 1823 were scarred in body and mind. Having had exaggerated expectations in the first place, their disillusion was now unrestrained. Almost without exception they now hated the Greeks with a deep loathing, and cursed themselves for their stupidity in having been deceived. To their consternation they discovered on their return that their old friends were still as ignorant of what was occurring in Greece as when they had set out; that public opinion was overwhelmingly pro-Greek; and that volunteers were still leaving home to go to Greece with the same philhellenic slogans on their lips." (p. 114)
"Even more galling, when they told people of what they had seen and suffered, their stories were received with polite incredulity, discounted as the biased accounts of men with a personal grudge." (p. 115)
"The Greek Societies seem at first to have deliberately tried to suppress any suggestion of unpleasantness. Returned Philhellenes were given a small sum of money with the broad hint that they were to go away and keep quiet. When letters appeared in the newspapers describing conditions in Greece, the Societies put about the story that the individuals concerned were untrustworthy and untypical. When the brother of the leader of the Stuttgart Greek Society returned from Greece and confirmed the reports, even he was silenced." (p. 115)
"Philhellenism was a sturdy plant with deep roots. It could not be easily eradicated. Although the leaders of the Societies were undoubtedly guilty of suppression of uncomfortable facts, they were honest men on the whole. As with so many believers in great causes, their minds could not readily assimilate the notion that the picture they imagined of Modern Greece was not the real one. Facts are poor weapons against such deep-seated beliefs. The returning Philhellenes for their part were in no mood to help the Societies to make the adjustment easily." (p. 115)
"They did not realize that they were victims of an idea. Their resentment needed a more concrete target. They turned on the Societies, on the professors, the priests, and the merchants, and accused them of every crime from maladministration to willfully sending men to their deaths. Mainly, however, they were simply concerned to convince people that the common notion of Greece was wrong, to save others from falling into the same delusions as they had; and to clear their names of the implied stigma of having proved inadequate to the great ideal. They were seized with an overwhelming desire to shout ´It is not true´ in the market place of every town with a Greek Society." (p. 115)
"During the time when the Philhellenes were away, the Societies had continued their propaganda as best they could. In the countries where censorship was lax, absurd stories about the Greek Revolution had flowed from the presses. No story was too tall to be acceptable and one is tempted to believe the charge that some Societies deliberately manufactured their own news. As one writer put it, letters ´were fabricated at Augsburg, Paris, and London, the three great mints of Philhellenic mendacity." (p. 115)
"….Supplementary laboratories existed at Zante, Trieste, Frankfurt, and Stuttgart. A Swedish Philhellene, picking up a copy of an Augsburg newspaper of September 1822 on his way back, read with amused horror a letter allegedly by a Philhellene which put the size of Mavrocordato´s army at 25,000 and described in detail the ribbons and medals issued to the troops. The first reports of the Battle of Peta described it as a great victory."
"Its location was transferred to the more familiar Thermopylae, three pashas were said to have been captured, and General Normann´s soldiers to have carried him in triumph from the battlefield on their shields! The engraving reproduced as Plate 5 shows a European view of what was happening in Greece. The Greeks and Philhellenes are standing in close order like a European army. The Turks are fighting with bows and arrows." (p.116)
"The Societies did, however, make an honest effort to publish genuine accounts by men who had gone to Greece. One of the first, published in Leipzig, consisted of a series of letters of a theology student, Feldhann, who accompanied General Normann. The author had, however, been killed at Peta before his confident descriptions of the voyage out and of the welcome in Greece appeared in Europe." (p. 116)
"The Societies also seized on an account by a young French naval officer, Voutier, which was published in Paris. It was translated twice into German with laudatory introductions by the Societies. Unfortunately this Frenchman was a shameless liar, describing himself as playing a leading role in many events at which he was not even present." (p. 116)
"Faced with a public intent on believing what it wanted, the disillusioned Philhellenes turned to the pen. Many had consoled themselves through their misery in Greece by keeping diaries. Although some who had promised themselves that they would tell their story when they went home later gave up their intention, an astonishing number of accounts were printed. In the two years after the expeditions had sailed from Marseilles virtually every district which had furnished Philhellenes had the opportunity of reading the story of a disappointed local hero." (p. 116)
"These accounts make sad reading. Some are the disorganized productions of men unused to writing, others are ghost-written, others are anonymous to protect their authors from reprisals. The fact that so many did eventually appear in print attests the earnestness of the authors. The effort which it cost them to write these little books is described in the prefaces – how the authors abandoned and restarted the work but ultimately completed it out of indignation or pity for new victims, or how they had made solemn promises to their comrades in Greece to publish the truth." (p. 116)
"Almost without exception these books were written in ignorance that other such books were being published in neighbouring towns. They have an unmistakable ring of spontaneity. Again and again the same sentiments are repeated. ´I am writing this to warn others against the mistakes which I made´; ´Modern Greece is not the same as Ancient Greece´; ´The Greeks are a cruel, barbarian, ungrateful race´; ´I apologize for the unscholarly style of a simple soldier. The writers are bitter, unrestrained, inaccurate, and unbalanced. Few showed that their experiences in Greece had really increased their understanding of the forces at work in the situation. (p. 116, 117)
"Gradually they had their effect. But they were not in time to prevent the last and greatest enterprise of the South German and Swiss Greek Societies." (p. 117)
"For a time the bandwagon rolled as they had hoped. Men allowed their names to be added to the Committee´s membership out of respect or liking for Byron and the apparent widening of the political base of the Committee induced others to join. But, despite appearances, the vast majority of the distinguished men whose names ornamented the London Greek Committee took no part in its activities. Throughout its life it was exclusively administered by a small group of doctrinaire Benthamites. It was only when he reached Greece that Byron was to begin to appreciate the true nature of the London Greek Committee with whom he had tied his fortunes and his reputation. The process of disenchantment was to be a painful one. (p. 153)
"A few days after Blaquiere left Genoa, another episode turned Byron´s thoughts to Greece. Two German Philhellenes, a Wurttemberger and a Bavarian, knowing his reputation for kindness, came to beg help to pay for their journey back to Germany. They had both been members of General Normann´s party and the Wurttemberger had been present at Peta. Leaving Greece together in September 1822 they had wandered from island to island and eventually reached Smyrna. They had benefited from the kindness of the French consul and had been given a free passage to Ancona, but at Trieste they had been turned back by the Austrians. They now had no money, clothes, or shoes." (p. 153)
"Byron took a personal interest in the two men and invited them to his house several times before sending them happily on their way. He was able to converse about the places which he had visited in his youth and his mind was drawn back to happier days. He examined them closely about the state of affairs in Greece and learnt a good deal of more or less accurate information about the attitude of the Greeks to foreigners and their aversion to European methods of warfare." (p. 153)
"The two young men were clearly typical of the best of the 1822 generation of Philhellenes. As Byron wrote in a letter to Bowring: ´Both are very simple, full of Naivete, and quite unpretending: they say the foreigners quarreled among themselves, particularly the French with the Germans, which produced duels….One of them means to publish his Journal of the campaign. The Bavarian wonders a little that the Greeks are not quite the same with them of the time of Themistocles." (p. 153)
"After the visit of the Germans, Byron´s enthusiasm for an expedition to Greece grew rapidly. Everyone with whom he discussed the idea pressed him to indulge his wishes. Count Gamba, the young brother of Byron´s mistress, who had shared in the debacle of the revolution in Central Italy, was bursting like so many of his countrymen to continue the struggle…" (p. 153)
In spite of Greece´s artificiality today one can proudly call him or herself a "Hellene" with a 4,000 year old heritage, with roots extending back to the classical Greeks of 2,000 years ago but a real and genuine Macedonian cannot call him or herself a Macedonian because according to modern Greek logic "Macedonia is Greek" and "there is no such thing as a Macedonian"!
Many thanks to TrueMacedonian for his contribution to this article.
Source:
St. Clair, William. That Greece Might Still be Free, The Philhellenes in the War of Independence. London: Oxford University Press, 1972.
To be Continued
You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
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