tricts of Greece. In February, 1825, Ibrahim Pasha arrived with a powerful army from Egypt, which captured Navarino in May, and Tripolitza in June of the same year. In July, the provisional government invoked the aid of England; in the following April (1826), Ibrahim Pasha took Missolonghi after a long and heroic defence; and nearly a year later Reschid Pasha captured Athens.
Down to the beginning of 1826, the Greeks had felt seriously the deprivation of Russian sympathy and aid for which they had been led to look before the revolution. The death of Alexander I., and the accession of Nicholas in December, 1825, caused a change in the situation. The British government sent the Duke of Wellington to St. Petersburg ostensibly to congratulate Nicholas on his elevation to the throne, but really to secure concert of action in regard to Greece. On the 4th of April a protocol was signed by the Duke of Wellington, Prince Lieven, and Count Nesselrode, which may be considered the foundation of Greek independence.
Out of this protocol grew the treaty of July 6, 1827, between England, Russia, and France, by which it was stipulated that those nations should mediate between the contending Greeks and Turks. They proposed to the Sultan that he should retain a nominal authority over the Greeks, but receive from them a fixed annual tribute, to be collected by the Greek authorities, in whose nomination the Sultan should have a voice. All Mussulman property in Greece was to be abandoned upon receipt of an indemnity, and all fortresses were to be given up to the Greek troops. If the Porte did not accept these terms within a month, it was very plainly announced that the powers would for their own security "come to an approximation with the Greeks, which would consist in establishing commercial relations with Greece, and receiving from it commercial agents." In very forcible terms this meant that the independence of the Greeks would be acknowledged.
