Memorials and Other Papers — Volume 1De Quincey, Thomas
General
Memorials and Other Papers — Volume 1
De Quincey, Thomas
English essays
Foto Giavella, who was a hero after the most exquisite model of ancient
Greece, Epaminondas, or Timoleon, and whose counsels were uniformly wise
and honest. After that loss, all harmony of plan went to wreck amongst
the Suliotes; and at length, about the middle of December, 1803, this
immortal little independent state of Suli solemnly renounced by treaty
to Ali Pacha its sacred territory, its thrice famous little towns, and
those unconquerable positions among the crests of wooded inaccessible
mountains which had baffled all the armies of the crescent, led by the
most eminent of the Ottoman Pachas, and not seldom amounting to twenty,
twenty-five, and in one instance even to more than thirty thousand men.
The articles of a treaty, which on one side there never was an intention
of executing, are scarcely worth repeating; the amount was--that the
Suliotes had perfect liberty to go whither they chose, retaining the
whole of their arms and property, and with a title to payment in cash
for every sort of warlike store which could not be carried off. In
excuse for the poor Suliotes in trusting to treaties of any kind with
an enemy whom no oaths could bind for an hour, it is but fair to mention
that they were now absolutely without supplies either of ammunition or
provisions; and that, for seven days, they had suffered under a total
deprivation of water, the sources of which were now in the hands of the
enemy, and turned into new channels. The winding up of the memorable
tale is soon told:--the main body of the fighting Suliotes, agreeably to
the treaty, immediately took the route to Parga, where they were sure
of a hospitable reception, that city having all along made common cause
with Suli against their common enemy, Ali. The son of Ali, who had
concluded the treaty, and who inherited all his father's treachery, as
fast as possible despatched four thousand Turks in pursuit, with
orders to massacre the whole. But in this instance, through the gallant
assistance of the Parghiotes, and the energetic haste of the Suliotes,
the accursed wretch was disappointed of his prey. As to all the other
detachments of the Suliotes, who were scattered at different points,
and were necessarily thrown everywhere upon their own resources without
warning or preparation of any kind,--they, by the terms of the treaty,
had liberty to go away or to reside peaceably in any part of Ali's
dominions. But as these were mere windy words, it being well understood
that Ali's fixed intention was to cut every throat among the Suliotes,
whether of man, woman, or child,--nay, as he thought himself dismally
ill-used by every hour's delay which interfered with the execution
of that purpose,--what rational plan awaited the choice of the poor
Suliotes, finding themselves in the centre of a whole hostile nation,
and their own slender divisions cut off from communication with each
other? What could people so circumstanced propose to themselves as a
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