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well have to agree to disagree if you cant agree that the first president was an Albanian you go for dodge & weave method.We know now that a lot of things weren't right & the Albanians had a role to fill in every greek sphere.
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"Ido not want an uprising of people that would leave me at the first failure, I want revolution with citizens able to bear all the temptations to a prolonged struggle, what, because of the fierce political conditions, will be our guide or cattle to the slaughterhouse"
GOTSE DELCEV -
Are you referring to Georgios Countouriotes (1782-1858) or Paulos Countouriotes (1855-1935) ??Originally posted by George S. View PostComment
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Originally posted by Sweet Sixteen View Post
Read page 228.
The rich Hydriote ship-owner, Conduriottis, held the title President of Greece. He was an Albanian unable to speak Greek.Last edited by TrueMacedonian; 02-19-2014, 05:03 PM.Comment
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William St Clair is a modern historian (of 1970s) who copies Finlay. My answer is a few posts above and was quite analytical for both parts.Originally posted by TrueMacedonian View PostComment
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SSOriginally posted by Sweet Sixteen View Post
So you're only going to read & believe what you choose? That's very Greek of you!On Delchev's sarcophagus you can read the following inscription: "We swear the future generations to bury these sacred bones in the capital of Independent Macedonia. August 1923 Illinden"Comment
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Nope, I can read anything and I'm skeptical when something is hard to believe.Originally posted by makedonche View PostComment
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This is a compilation of the most interesting passages on Georgios Countouriotes by foreign authors, I could find online.
W. H. Humphreys, Journal of a Visit to Greece (London: Henry Colburn, 1826)
The president of the executive body, Conduriotti, of one of the richest families of Hydra, is a man of very limited talent, and very uninformed; good intentioned, but completely at the direction of those around him. Since Mavrocordato has been secretary of state, the Greeks say, of Conduriotti, “If you ask the President a question, he looks to the right, if Mavrocordato is sitting on that side; and to the left, if he is sitting on the other”
Julius Millingen, Memoirs of the Affairs of Greece (London: John Rodwell, 1831)
Mavrocordato’s absence had been strongly felt by Conduriotti, a man who, having received no other education than that of a merchant-captain, at Hydra, was totally ignorant of the details and practical part of civil administration.
No one could afford him greater assistance, than Mavrocordato in the performance of the arduous task he had undertaken. He knew the patriotic nature of his sentiments, and that there existed not in Greece a more zealous friend to order.
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(This is a real episode described by several authors that is always used to ridicule Countouriotes)
In so critical an emergency Conduriotti, president of the executive, thought, that nothing but his presence could remedy the difficulties, which now multiplied in proportion as he sought to overcome them. Wholly unacquainted with military science, and incapacitated by his age and feeble constitution, he formed the resolution of visiting the Greek camp at Fourgi, and the fortress of Neocastro, in the hope of rousing the courage of the soldiers, and inducing them to attack the enemy; to examine the real state of things at Old Navarino, on the island of Sphacteria, and inquire into the wants of the garrison. Mounted on a superb Arabian charger, the spoil of the enemy, he left Anapli on the 29th of March (l6th O. S.), in the midst of salvos of artillery, accompanied by Mavrocordato, now secretary of state, and a staff, composed chiefly of Hydriot captains, now turned colonels and generals, and a numerous train of irregular soldiers. He did not, however, arrive at Tripolitza before the 1st of April; though that town is only distant eleven leagues from Anapli. For, born and bred at Hydra, where horses are not used, the president was so little acquainted with horsemanship, that, on his arrival at Argos, only two leagues’ distance, he was so fatigued as to be obliged to halt for two days.
I remained at Argos after the president’s departure; persuaded that when I should hear of his leaving Tripolitza, having horses of my own, I could soon overtake him in his slow marches. The solemnities of Easter were at hand; and Conduriotti was too orthodox a Christian, though the safety of Greece might depend upon this loss of time, to undertake any thing before they were over. One of the most satisfactory excuses for this extraordinary and pusillanimous conduct, at a time when so much activity was demanded, was the fruitlessness of his endeavours to rouse the Moriots to a sense of their imminent danger; and alter the resolution, they had unanimously taken, of not marching on the enemy, unless their own capitani returned to place themselves at their head.
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That the administration of Conduriotti was, beyond comparison, better than the antecedent [the author means Petros Mavromichalis], no one can doubt; but he must be bold indeed, who should affirm that it was free from error. Instead of exercising a rigid economy, the executive, in less than eight months, squandered the money of the first loan, which, with the revenues from the different islands of the Archipelago, and the various towns and provinces, which acknowledged the authority of government, formed a sum of two millions of dollars. The president of this body was a Hydriot; the vice-president a Spezziot; and the different individuals, whom they had intrusted with the most important situations, and the others whom they had left in office, were unanimously subservient to their will, and entirely devoted to the interests of the islands. They were themselves principal owners of ships. Chiefs of a numerous party in their native countries; connected by ties of consanguinity, which, how remote soever, are in small communities objects of much consideration, with an interminable train of relations; necessity often obliged them to keep in full pay every sail, belonging to their islands. Had they neglected to employ all those, who were not absolutely wanted, they would have given rise to so much discontent and jealousy as to create serious disturbances, and exposed their properties, and those of their friends, to the lawless revenge of an infuriated mob.
Emerson, A Picture of Greece
(1826)
George Conduriotti, the President of the Executive body, is a plain, inactive man, of no talent, but unshaken integrity. His family came originally from Condouri, a village in the vicinity of Athens, but have been long resident at Hydra, where an unprecedented success in trade, together with an unblemished reputation, have rendered him and his brother the most opulent, and amongst the most honourable inhabitants of the island. A desire to please the Hydriots, whose exertions have been so important in advancing the success of the revolution, has no doubt been the leading cause of his election to an office for which he is so ill qualified both by nature and education; but to which, however, his honourable character gives an importance in the eyes of his countrymen, which the higher talents of others might be less efficient in conferring on it.Last edited by Sweet Sixteen; 02-20-2014, 07:20 AM.Comment
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a bit of selective reading Fact is he was an Albanian & not a greek speaks a lot about the person.Without referring who they are.If that's the case you can twist & wirm any old way & not admit the truth."Ido not want an uprising of people that would leave me at the first failure, I want revolution with citizens able to bear all the temptations to a prolonged struggle, what, because of the fierce political conditions, will be our guide or cattle to the slaughterhouse"
GOTSE DELCEVComment
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