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T U R 
seven hundred men under his orders; these were more par¬ 
ticularly destined to relieve the Souliotes. The expedition 
was to be joined by fifteen hundred men from the army 
before Patrass. The prince arrived there on the Pith of 
June, and was received by Colocotroni with every demon¬ 
stration of joy ; but refused to allow the latter any part 
of his troops to be detached, so that the expedition was com¬ 
pelled to depart without the promised assistance. Em¬ 
barking next day on board a small Greek squadron which 
had been waiting near Patrass for the purpose, Mavrocordato 
landed at Messolunghi with only a few hundred men, while 
Kiriakouli and his party proceeded northwards, in order to 
be disembarked as near Kiapha as circumstances would 
admit. 
But during the absence of the president, the chiefs and 
the congress fell out: the first glaring manifestation of dis¬ 
content was made by Colocotroni, who suddenly raised the 
blockade of Patrass on the 6th of July without orders, and 
proceeded with the whole of his forces to Tripolizza, thus 
leaving the Turkish garrison at liberty either to penetrate 
into the Morea, or cross the gulf of Lepanto; a fortunate 
movement, since a Turkish army had passed the great 
Dcrvenachi, or defiles. Not doubting but that the relief 
of Napoli di Romania was a grand object with the enemy, 
he determined to march towards that place, but on pre¬ 
paring to depart, the utmost force he could muster did 
not exceed two thousand men. Forming this small corps 
into two divisions, he sent the largest, consisting of twelve 
hundred men, towadrs Corinth, under the command of 
his most confidential officer Coliopulo, to occupy the 
passes between that place and Argos; while the remainder 
was destined to act under his own immediate orders. 
Messengers were dispatched on every side to recall the 
troops who had retired to cultivate their fields or visit 
their families. Colocotroni proceeded to Argos, where he 
only found Demetrius Ipsilanti with little more than three 
hundred men ; the members of the executive having thought 
it expedient to embark, and to proceed to a neighbouring 
island, when they heard of the enemy’s approach. The 
consternation which now spread throughout the Pelopon¬ 
nesus, was greatly increased by the abandonment of Corinth 
and its re-occupation by the infidels. 
Nothing could be more embarrassing or alarming than 
the situation of the two chiefs at this moment, without money 
or provisions, and having scarcely thirteen hundred men, to 
oppose to an army of thirty thousand, which was the num¬ 
ber said to be advancing towards the plain. In this state of 
things, Ipsilanti, with a degree of courage and resolution 
which did him the highest honour, threw himself into the 
ruined citadel of Argos, there to impede the progress of the 
enemy, while Colocotroni entrenched himself at Lerna, a 
strong position on the western shore of the gulph, and 
waited the arrival of reinforcements from Maina, Arcadia 
and other points. 
The precaution having been taken of destroying or carry¬ 
ing off whatever could be of use to the enemy, more espe¬ 
cially corn and forage of every kind, the Turks, who ex¬ 
pected large supplies of wheat from the produce of the 
recent harvest, and other booty, finding nothing but the bare 
walls of the villages and churches standing, had ample cause 
of alarm. Contrary to general expectation, the Pacha, who 
was accompanied by Ali Bey, the governor of Napoli di 
Romania, entered that fortress, and remained there several 
days without a single movement on the part of his army, or 
indeed seeming to have any decided plan of operation in 
view. The Greeks were by no means so inactive. Coloco¬ 
troni continued to strengthen his position at Lerna, while the 
number of his troops increased daily, and soon amounted to 
eight thousand men. On the appearance of the second divi¬ 
sion of the enemy, Ipsilanti retreated in a very masterly 
style, though surrounded by detachments of the enemy, and 
succeeded in joining the main body at Lerna, without losing 
a man. 
When there had been sufficient time for the Greeks to look 
KEY. 
around them, and send out reconnoitring parties, the state of 
affairs assumed a much less terrific aspect than at first. It 
was soon found, that so far from having brought supplies to 
the starving garrison of Napoli, the infidels had advanced 
without any means of subsistence for themselves. 
Threatened with all the horrors of famine, the Pacha 
seemed at length to awake from his lethargy, and quitting 
Napoli, followed by a numerous suite, gave orders for pre¬ 
paring to return towards Corinth. The whole camp was 
instantly on the alert, and no sooner were the camels laden 
w'ith the baggage, than the infidel army set forward in great 
disorder. Minutely informed of what was passing on the 
plain, by their out-posts, the chiefs at Lerna had already sent 
off detachments by a mountain path-way, so as to overtake the 
enemy’s columns as they entered the defiles between Corinth 
and Mycene. Colocotroni himself advanced with the main 
body the moment he perceived that the Turks were in mo¬ 
tion; while a part of the troops employed before Napoli, 
advanced on their right flank. These movements were so 
well contrived and executed, that the enemy, whose rear¬ 
guard had suffered severely on the first day’s march, was 
attacked with such impetuosity on the second, that not less 
than five thousand were destroyed in the course of a few 
hours. The fate of the advanced guard was little better than 
that of their companions. On reaching the defiles near Co¬ 
rinth, they were met by the Mainotes, dispatched from Lerna, 
under Nikitas, and attacked so furiously, that above twelve 
hundred of them perished in the first onset. Many more 
were killed in trying to force the passes. A great quantity of 
baggage and a number of horses fell into the hands of the 
Greeks. These memorable successes occurred between the 
4th and 7th of August. 
Having collected the remnant of his army under the walls 
of Corinth, and been joined by the reserves left there, Mach- 
mout Pacha made a movement on the 18th, with the seem¬ 
ing view of resuming the offensive and marching towards 
Argos: the real object of this movement was, however, to 
draw the Greeks, who had been watching him, into an am¬ 
buscade. Aware of his intentions in time, the Greeks, in¬ 
stead of attempting to impede him, got into his rear, when 
the Turks attacked them, but owing to the advantageous 
position taken up by the Greeks, the enemy was again re¬ 
pulsed with great loss. A still more bloody affair took place 
on the following day. Determined to regain the position 
they had abandoned, the Turkish troops were headed by 
Hadji Ali, second in command to Machmout; this officer, 
one of the bravest of the Ottoman army, was killed while 
encouraging his men. In the above desperate effort, the 
enemy lost nearly two thousand men, together with a large 
quantity of baggage and several hundred horses. 
The blockade of Napoli di Romania was now renewed 
with increased vigilance, and Ipsilanti proceeded to reinforce 
the garrison of Athens, lest other divisions of the enemy 
should advance towards that place. Ali Bey had retained 
the five hundred cavalry which he brought to strengthen the 
garrison of Napoli: but with the exception of a small quan¬ 
tity of grain found concealed in some parts of the plain, 
during its recent occupation, his stock of provisions was 
exhausted. 
After the successes between Corinth and Argos, Coloco¬ 
troni collected the whole of his troops, within a short dis¬ 
tance of the former place, and leaving them under the direc¬ 
tion of Coliopulo, with orders to watch the shattered remains 
of Machmout’s army, he went on to Tripolizza, to concert 
with the Senate. Here he quarrelled with all the civil au¬ 
thorities, and matters were thrown into so much confusion, 
that the troops left under Coliopulo, not being regularly 
supplied with rations nor receiving any pay, became tired 
of the service, and withdrew; merely leaving Colocotroni’s 
eldest son, a brave and promising young officer, with two or 
three hundred men, to maintain the blockade of Corinth. As 
there was still a body of three thousand men, of whom two- 
thirds were cavalry, encamped under the walls, the situation 
of young Colocotroni was now very critical, and he had cer¬ 
tain 
