Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 67, No. 415, May, 1850Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 67, No. 415, May, 1850
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
A blow was shortly after inflicted on the royalty of Greece, from which
it can never recover; but Lord Palmerston is accused of tolerating the
use of forbidden weapons by some of his adherents, in his eagerness to
make the Greek monarch sensible of the impolicy of the conduct of the
Hellenic court. Attacks on the person of King Otho, more bold and
unsparing than the most malignant vituperation of Junius, appeared in a
London morning paper, then supposed to be allowed to imbibe some of its
inspiration from Downing Street. These communications pretended to come
from an anonymous correspondent in Athens, but it was evident the
unknown writer was aware of many things that could hardly be known
beyond the Bavarian court and the sanctuaries of Downing Street. At
least, King Otho drew this conclusion, and apparently on good grounds.
This correspondent informed the world, that his Hellenic Majesty, who
had been selected by Lord Palmerston, and supported with a loan of
£2,400,000, was nevertheless unfit to govern his kingdom; and that a
certificate to this effect had been signed by several officers, civil,
military, and medical, who were then at Athens in the service of King
Otho, and that this certificate had been placed in the hands of King
Louis of Bavaria. This strange communication would have passed unnoticed
in Greece, had it not been made the subject of conversation by all the
English officials, and the attention of Greek statesmen called to it by
the British legation and consulates. At last, it was publicly noticed by
the Greek press, and an outcry produced. Three of the Bavarians named as
having signed the certificate, published a declaration contradicting the
statement, in a document bearing date the 11th-23d June 1839, which was
printed in the Greek newspapers. The medical and military officers who
signed this counter-certificate were dismissed from all their places,
and immediately quitted Greece. Very little has been said on this
subject since. All parties seem heartily ashamed of their share in the
transaction, and the public never discovered the key of the mystery. It
is certain, however, that King Otho has given Lord Palmerston and Sir E.
Lyons good proof of the falsity of the certificate, if they were ever
led into the belief that such a document really existed; for, during ten
years, he baffled them both in every diplomatic move, and made their
vaunted constitutional policy tend more to the injury of their own
reputation than to the diminution of his power.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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