Page:Christian Greece and Living Greek.djvu/234

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CHRISTIAN GREECE AND LIVING GREEK.

When the Italians, through their revolution from 1859 to 1860, obtained their independence and were soon to obtain their unity through the help of France, the Greeks hoped that Italy would do for Hellas what France had done for Italy. The Hellenic cause had warm friends in Italy. There were negotiations with Garibaldi, but while this new insurrection was being pre- pared there began to break out those agitations which ended in the dethronement of King Otho. There were then, and there still are, those who attribute his fall to the action of English agents. England justified the act. " Her Maj- esty's Government," wrote Earl Russell, "can- not deny that the Greeks have good and suffi- cient cause for the step they have taken."

The king yielded without resistance to the revolution which overthrew his dynasty, thus giving Hellas a last proof of his love for her by deliberately sparing her the woes of civil war. He left the land of his adoption with words of farewell full of majesty, and good wishes for her happiness which were dictated by a sincere affection. The Hellenes have not forgotten his weakness, but they are ever recalling his good qualities. They remember how he loved their country.