1806. 1807. A.D. auspices his preparations for attacking the islands proceeded with all assiduity and dispatch; the fortresses of Epirus were repaired, provisioned, and garrisoned, and 12,000 men were assembled and in readiness to march at the first signal from the Porte or Napoleon. But ere any decisive step had been taken, the destruction of Prussia, and the subsequent losses A.D. of the Russians at Preuss-Eylau, and Friedland, had totally changed the aspect of affairs, as regarded the relations of France and the Czar. Alexander, on the defeat of his army under Bennigsen,* had been speedily disposed July for peace, and at the treaty of Tilsit, in July 1807, amongst other arrangements entered into between him and Napoleon, the Ionian Republic was unreservedly transferred to the Emperor of France.† 7th. The intelligence of this sinister event arrived at the moment when the vizir was preparing to quell an alarming movement amongst the Klefts of Thessaly. A remnant of the confederacy of Santa Maura had still survived amidst the mountains of Khasia, a wild and semi-civilized district between Mount Pindus and the Peneus; and the breaking out of hos * June 14, 1807. + Pouqueville, v. i. p. 256. See vol. i. of this History, c. viii. p. 261. 1807. tilities between Russia and the Porte served to A.D. infuse new spirit into the hopes of its leaders. The head of the conspiracy at this period was Enthymius Blachavas, a descendant of a family distinguished for many generations amidst the captains of the Thessalian Armatoli. As the eldest of his family, he was destined by his father for the priesthood, and the circumstances of his early education procured him amongst his companions the surname of Pappas Enthymius.* His taste, however, was directed rather to the sword than the altar; and on the decease of his father he abruptly abandoned his sacred profession, and was hailed by his younger brothers as the chief of his clan. Of all the leaders of the Armatoli none was more remarkable than Blachavas for his unparleying detestation of his tyrants, and his stern resistance of every overture made to him by the Pachas of Roumelia. His mind, too, was of a more comprehensive cast than the generality of his associates; and whilst their attention was directed solely to the maintenance of freedom in their own isolated districts, the thoughts of Enthymius had ever embraced the nobler object of emancipating Greece. In the confederacy of 1805 he had taken an influential part, and on its frustration by the Pacha, he had i. p. 200. * Fauriel, v. 1807. A.D. retired into indignant solitude to brood over his disappointment and await some fresh occasion of revolt. The Russian war occurred opportunely to gratify his ambition; in conjunction with his brothers Demetrius and Theodore, he organized a fresh insurrection, and in the summer of 1807 raised the standard of liberty on the heights of Olympus. Various beys, agas, and governors of Northern Greece were prepared to act in concert with him, and his plans were even said to have been known and countenanced by members of the Ottoman cabinet, who were alarmed at the rapidly increasing power of the Vizir of Epirus. The rendezvous of the league was appointed at the eastern base of Mount Pindus, whence the troops of the confederacy were to descend upon the south of Thessaly, and having levied a sufficiency of troops, proceed to the attack of Joannina. Blachavas was the first to repair to the appointed quarter; and in the ardour of his patriotism had even taken the precaution, before the arrival of the other leaders, to send forward his brothers with the strength of his troops to occupy the position of Kastri, which commands the passes leading to Macedonia and Epirus.* In the mean time, Ali, with a *Fauriel, v. i. p. 202. 1807. vigilance which never slept, had penetrated A.D. his movements. A traitor, called Deli Ghianni, son to a priest of Mezzovo, had given him early intimation of the designs of the confederates, and Mouctar Pacha, with a band of 4000 Albanians, was already in possession of Kastri when the party of Demetrius arrived. A brief but decisive struggle ensued; the Greeks were surrounded and cut to pieces, their commanders perished in the fray, and this premature destruction of his band completely crushed the hopes of Blachavas. For a time he continued as a freebooter to infest the vicinity of Mount Othrys, and having subsequently formed a connexion with some pirates of Trikkeri, he made frequent descents on the coast of Thessaly and the islands to the north of Negropont. On the faith of a capitulation, which promised him security of life and property, he at last surrendered to the Capitan Pacha, and was handed over to the custody of Ali. As usual, the terms of his surrender were but the toils prepared by the tyrant to entrap him; and after being subjected in vain to every refinement of torture, in order to induce him to disclose the names of his associates, the Pacha issued final orders for his execution. "I had once met Blachavas," says M. Pouqueville, "at Milias, on Mount Pindus, in all the pride of freedom 1807. A.D. and surrounded by his warlike companions; I saw him again, for the last time, bound to a stake in the court of the seraglio at Joannina. The rays of a burning sun fell full on his deeply-bronzed forehead, down which the sweat of agony and exhaustion was flowing in copious streams. Even in death his eye still flashed defiance; and turning on me a look more serene than that of the monster who directed his torments, he seemed to call on me to witness with what calmness a hero can die. Without a moan or a shudder he received the last blows of his executioners; and his manly limbs, severed from his body, and dragged through the streets of Joannina, showed to the terrified Greeks the remains of the last of the chieftains of Thessaly."* It would belong less to the present subject than to a biography of the Vizir of Epirus, to enter with minuteness into the details of his subsequent proceedings, from the arrival of General Berthier at Corfu till the period of Ali's being declared fermanlit by the Divan. A few circumstances only may be mentioned as immediately affecting the interests of the Greeks; the remainder merely tended to the Fauriel, v. * Pouqueville, v. i. p. 294. Carrel, p. 237. i. p. 204. † Outlawed. |