GREECE BEFORE THE WAR OF 1 897. 221 came inevitable, for no government can weather a panic. Four years before Delyannis had been dis- missed by the king because he had failed to deal successfully with the financial situation. Tri- cupis came in ; he brought forward a broad and statesmanlike project for dealing with the situa- tion. His plans were not approved; he went out after having stood for fifteen years before Europe as the Greek with an honest and rational financial policy. He came in again. More than once he seemed on the very threshold of success, when the political whirlpool would undo it all. His sisyphous role seems at last to have worn him out, and returning to power in 1893 he pro- posed his now famous provisional reduction of thirty per cent on the interest of the gold loans, and a compromise with the foreign creditors. This cost him his European prestige, and his in- ternal programme did the rest. In his long lease of power he had wiped out the Turkish land tithe, provided for a sound currency, and rendered many a noble service to the country. Vincent Corbett, second secretary of the Eng- lish legation to Greece, wrote a report on the finances of Greece for the year ending June 15th, 1 8^6, which was submitted on that date, by
