174 
TURKEY. 
neither loved nor esteemed Ipsilanti, whom he accused of 
sloth and want of vigour. 
Ipsilanti had two important projects in view: one of 
these, was to establish a general and central government for 
all Greece; the other, to put the army upon a regular foot¬ 
ing, and assimilate it to the troops of Europe. Both the 
above designs met with numberless obstacles ; the first would 
have destroyed the influence of many interested individuals, 
who were at the head of different states of the confederation, 
and the second was calculated to lessen the power of the mi¬ 
litary chiefs. The captains and ephors therefore joined in 
opposing them, and in other respects created such difficul¬ 
ties as to render the situation of the Prince exceedingly irk¬ 
some. In the meanwhile, two events occurred, which, 
though favourable to the cause of independence, tended by 
their consequences to exasperate Ipsilanti still more. 
The strong fortresses of Malvasia and Navarin surrendered 
to the patriots in August. The former, situated on the east 
coast of Laconia, is a place very difficult to reduce, being 
built in a rock washed on every side by the Egean sea, and 
communicating with the continent only by a bridge. De¬ 
fended in this quarter by a strong treble wall, it is inacces¬ 
sible at every other point, containing within itself sources of 
excellent water, and a small patch of cultivated land, suffi¬ 
cient to support a garrison of fifty or sixty men. Below this 
impregnable citadel is a port and suburb, where most of the 
inhabitants reside. The Greeks had kept it closely blockaded 
both by sea and land, since the month of April; Cantacu- 
zene arrived in the camp about the middle of July, and 
took the command: famine had already made dreadful ha¬ 
voc amongst the Mahometans, who after prolonging their 
existence by the most unnatural aliments, were at length re¬ 
duced to feed on human flesh, eating their prisoners, and 
even their own children. 
But while the majority of the population was thus suffer¬ 
ing, the governor, shut up with two hundred soldiers in the 
citadel, enjoyed abundance, and gave himself no trouble 
about the fate of his countrymen in the lower town. These 
last were disposed rather to famish than trust to the mercy of 
the peasants and Maiuotes who were investing the place: 
but the arrival of prince Cantacuzene having inspired them 
with some degree of confidence, they ventured to open a 
negociation. Full protection was stipulated for their lives, 
moveable property, and the honour of their families; it was 
also agreed that they should be transported in Greek vessels 
to the coast of Anatolia. On the faith of these assurances, a 
part of the inhabitants got into the castle by stratagem, seized 
and disarmed the governor and his troops, and on the 3d of 
August opened the gates to the besiegers. 
Prompted by those feelings of irritation and revenge, 
which have been so often betrayed under similar circum¬ 
stances ; and impressed with a notion that the garrison was 
not entitled to the benefits of a capitulation entered into with 
the inhabitants of the town, the Greek soldiery, strangers to 
discipline, fell on the former, of whom numbers perished. 
To the credit of Cantacuzene, it should be added, that he 
displayed equal prudence and firmness on this occasion ; 
interposing his authority with such effect, as to save a num¬ 
ber of lives, and eventually succeeded in putting a stop to 
the excesses, though not without considerable risk from his 
own soldiers, who conceived they were only retaliating the 
countless murders previously committed by the infidels. 
Navarino, which also surrendered soon after, was the theatre 
of another tragedy, to which none but wars between slaves 
and their task masters ever give rise. Well fortified, and 
possessing one of the finest harbours in Europe, this city is 
built in the immediate vicinity of the ancient Pvlos; it was 
ably defended by the Turks, who made several vigorous 
sorties, but at last, every kind of sustenance being exhausted, 
after devouring even their slippers, they were forced to capi¬ 
tulate. Ipsilanti had sent one of the best and most distin¬ 
guished of his friends, Tipaldo the Cephalonian, to conduct 
the siege. Tipaldo was a man of virtue and abilities, who. 
after practising as a physician in Bessarabia with great suc« 
cess, abandoned the rising prospect of wealth to take his 
part in the national war. He manifested great spirit at the 
head of some Ionians in the various actions which were 
fought under the walls, and it was his presence that chiefly 
induced the Turks to treat about a surrender; for such was 
their obstinate resolution, that they had placed barrels of 
gunpowder under their houses, with the intention of blow¬ 
ing up the town, when a longer resistance should become 
impossible : the same terms were granted here as at Malvasia. 
It was while the siege of both these places had been carrying 
on, that the news of the Patriarch’s murder and that of the 
Greek clergy at Adrianople, together with the profanation of 
the Christian churches throughout the empire, spread through 
Greece: the fury of the troops, worked up to madness, was 
therefore vented on the garrison, of whom a considerable 
number were sacrificed. Tipaldo endeavoured in vain to 
arrest the heart-rending spectacle; the infuriated soldiery an¬ 
swering his exhortation by citing some act of personal suf¬ 
fering or oppression, and directing his attention to the recent 
massacres of the capital and other places. 
These disorders, joined to the opposition he experienced 
in other respects, roused the indignation of Ipsilanti, who 
determined to withdraw until a clearer understanding could 
be established. He accordingly issued a proclamation, in 
which he inveighed bitterly against the cruelties and indisci¬ 
pline of the Peloponnesians, and giving up the command, 
proceeded to Leondari. The Primates and Captains being 
however alarmed at this step, sent a deputation to the place 
of his retreat, and persuaded him to resume, for the present, 
his functions as generalissimo. 
All eyes were now turned on Tripolizza, a town of mo¬ 
dern origin, where the Turkish army were closely besieged 
by the Greeks. The supineness of the former was astonish¬ 
ing; they, whose numbers amounted to nearly 20,000 men, 
suffered themselves to be blockaded by 5000 undisciplined, 
ill-armed Greeks, without cavalry or artillery. The town 
was fortified by a wall, nine feet high, six feet thick at 
bottom and three at the top, which was furnished with a 
double row of loop-holes. There were demi-towers at differ¬ 
ent points, where cannon is placed ; the rest of the wall was 
defended by musketry. Here the Mussulman cavalry soon 
became useless for want of forage, having nothing to subsist 
on but vine leaves. Frequent skirmishes took place, by the 
Turks endeavouring to force a way into the vineyards ; one 
party was intercepted by Colocotroni, and defeated with the 
loss of 100 men in killed alone. Provisions became very 
scarce in Tripolizza, and the Greeks cut off the supply of 
water; which made the distress of the besieged extreme. 
The remaining store of provisions in the Turkish garrison, 
consisted of a small quantity of biscuit: horse-flesh was a 
luxury appropriated to persons of the highest rank; while 
hundreds of miserable starving objects were seen, wandering 
in crowds, gnawing the bones already cleanly picked by 
their superiors. Whole families of these poor famishing 
creatures came out and surrendered to the Greeks, but were 
driven back into the town; and some who endeavoured to 
escape to the mountains, were intercepted and slain. The 
Turks were at this time harrassed by an accumulation of 
horrors; in addition to the evils before named, an epidemic 
disease raged among them, brought on by famine, and want 
of good water; to this was added, disunion among their 
chiefs: a part of the garrison became mutinous. 
Some attempts were now made at negotiation, which was 
procrastinated from time to time by the Turks, until the 
23d of September, when a smart action occurred. On that 
day, some of the besieged came out to exchange their arms 
for strings of dried figs; a Greek fired his musket in the 
direction of the Turks, to warn them to withdraw; the latter, 
suspecting treachery, immediately attacked the Greeks, and 
obliged them to retreat. The Mussulmen perceiving this, 
•issued forth in great numbers to support their countrymen, 
and the whole Greek army took part in the action. During 
the 
