GREECE. 



463 



adviser, left Copenhagen for Greece, where he 

 arrived on the 30th of October. Immediately 

 upon his arrival at Athens he issued the follow- 

 ing proclamation: 



Hellenes, On ascending the throne to which I 

 have been called by your suffrages, I feel a desire to 

 say a few words to you. I bring to you neither ex- 

 perience nor wisdom, qualities which you cannot ex- 

 pect at my age ; but I come to you with confidence 

 and sincere devotion, as also with a firm belief in the 

 prosperity of our future, to which I promise to devote 

 rny whole life. I shall respect and conscientiously ob- 

 serve your laws, and especially the Constitution, that 

 keystone of the Greek edifice. I shall also endeavor 

 to 'love and respect your customs and language, every- 

 thing that is dear to you, as I love you already. I 

 shallcollect around me the best and the wisest men 

 among you, without any regard to past differences. 

 Assisted by their intelligence, I shall endeavor to fos- 

 ter the numerous and happy germs of the material re- 

 sources of your noble country, which henceforth is mine. 

 My ambition is to make Greece the model State of the 

 East. The Almighty will give strength to my weakness 

 and enlighten my efforts. He will aid me not to for- 

 get the obligations which 1 have contracted toward 

 vou. Whereon I pray God to have you in his safe 

 keeping. 



ATHENS, Oct. SOtA. GEORGE. 



On the following day, October 31st, the king 

 went to the National Assembly to take the 

 oath of fidelity to the Constitution. On Nov- 

 ember 6th, at the request of the king, M. Bul- 

 garis formed a new ministry. 



In the early part of the year, while the ne- 

 gotiations with the Royal Family of Denmark 

 respecting the Greek throne were still progress- 

 ing, the country was repeatedly agitated by mili- 

 tary revolts. On the 3d of July the French, 

 English, and Russian Legations at Athens, 

 addressed "identical" notes to the National 

 Assembly, declaring that they would quit 

 Athens if it did not reestablish order in the 

 country. The National Assembly replied to 

 this collective note, on July 22d, thanking the 

 foreign, ambassadors for the service they had 

 rendered to the cause of order, and announc- 

 ing that steps had been taken for ameliorating 

 the situation. These disturbances mostly ceas- 

 ed upon the arrival of King George, although 

 a considerable excitement continued from time 

 to time to manifest itself. 



On December 24th, 1862, the extraordinary 

 English plenipotentiary, Henry George Elliott, 

 presented to the Provisional Greek Govern- 

 ment at Athens a memorandum, according to 

 which the English Government declared itself 

 disposed, under certain conditions, to cede the 

 Ionian IsLtnds to Greece. The Danish Court, 

 in accepting the throne of Greece for Prince 

 William, made it in the protocol of the 5th of 

 June, a distinct condition that the Ionian Isl- 

 ands should be effectively united with Greece. 

 The views of England were fully set forth in 

 the speech which the Lord High Commis- 

 sioner of the islands made to the Legislative 

 Assembly on the 3d of October. He. first call- 

 ed upon the Assembly, which had been special- 

 ly elected for the purpose of deciding the an- 

 nexation question, to make known the wishes 

 of the people. In case their, answer should be 



in favor of annexation, he stated that certain 

 detailed arrangements were necessary for the 

 completion of this measure. On this subject 

 he expressed himself as follows : 



1. It will be necessary that you should pass a reso- 

 lution in the usual constitutional form, by which, after 

 the cessation of the British protectorate, and until the 

 establishment of the new Constitution, his Majesty the 

 King of the Hellenes shall be enabled to exercise in 

 these States all rights of sovereignty, including those 

 privileges 'and functions heretofore exercised by the 

 protecting sovereign, the Lord High Commissioner, 

 and the most illustrious the Senate. 2. 1 shall propose 

 to you, in the name of her Majesty, that, on the cessa- 

 tion of the payment of the sums heretofore reserved as 

 the contribution for military protection, and as the 

 civil list of the Lord High Commissioner, there shall 

 be reserved, as the first charge on the Ionian revenue, 

 the sum of 10,000 yearly in augmentation of the civil 

 list of his Majesty King George. 3. I shall call upon 

 you to recognize all contracts and engagements entered 

 into by or on behalf of the Ionian Government up to 

 this time, and all equitable claims on the same. 4. I 

 shall also invite you to make provision for the preser- 

 vation and safeguard of the Britishcemeteries in this and 

 the other islands. 5. I shall have to inform you of the 

 terms on which her Majesty's Government is prepared 

 to come to a settlement of the debt of 9,02y os. 7d., 

 due to Great Britain for arrears of military contri- 

 bution. Should your vote be in favor of the cessation 

 of the protectorate, and of the proposed union with 

 Greece, it will be necessary that her Majesty the Queen 

 should invite the powers, parties to the treaties of No- 

 vember, 1855, to revise that treaty, and, in conjunction 

 with France, one of the protecting Powers of Greece, 

 to make such arrangements as may tend to. the future 

 welfare of these States and the permanent interests of 

 Europe. 



On the 5th of October the Ionian Parliament 

 passed a vote in favor of annexation to Greece. 

 The conditions on which England made the 

 surrender of her authority contingent were not 

 received favorably by the Parliament which, 

 on the 18th of October, 1863, resolved, by a 

 vote of 33 to 3, that the protectorate of Eng- 

 land over the islands should cease immediately; 

 that the Senate should be dissolved, and the isl- 

 ands forthwith annexed to Greece. They de- 

 manded that the fortresses should be handed 

 over to King George in their present condi- 

 tion, and not razed, as they supposed the in- 

 tention of the English Government to be. On 

 the 14th of November a treaty was concluded 

 between Austria, France, Great Britain, Prus- 

 sia, and Russia, by which the following stipu- 

 lations with regard to the islands were made : 



ART. 1 The Queen of the United Kingdom of Great 

 Britain and Ireland renounces the protectorate con- 

 ferred ou England by the treaty of loth November, 

 1815. 



ART. 2. The Ionian Islands are placed in a condition 

 of perpetual neutrality. 



ART. 3. The fortifications of Corfu will be demol- 

 ished preliminary to the evacuation by the English 

 troops. 



ART. 4. The commercial stipulations resulting from 

 the treaties concluded by the protecting Powers are 

 maintained, notwithstanding the union of the Ionian 

 Islands with Greece. 



A.RT. 5. Religious Liberty is maintained in the" 

 Ionian Islands, and the subjects of those islands, 

 to whatever communion they belong, will be eligible 

 for all public offices, the same as in the kingdom of 

 Greece. 



ART. 6. A special treaty will be concluded between 



