During her Greek Revolution there were not a few times that his name Ioannis Kapodistrias was put at the center of the debates about the position of the political leader of the Greeks. In his letter, at the beginning of January 1824, the president of the Executive Petrobeis Mavromichalis proposed to the Corfu diplomat, who was residing in Geneva at that time, to come to Greece in order to assume the leadership of the Greeks. “The good patriots have already fixed all their attention on Your subject, and they are all waiting for You to contribute to the common salvation. Only your Excellency can bring about the necessary change, inspire patriotism, strengthen the law, and consolidate the independence of your nation”, said the Maniatis prefect.
In his answer, Kapodistrias categorically rejected the possibility of assuming the political leadership of the Greeks at the given time, citing his still active participation in the government structure of of Russia. However, he advised the rebellious Greeks to unite in the common interest, ceasing civil strife. He himself did not stop helping the struggle of the Greeks, participating in philellenic committees and organizing shipments of goods and money to the revolutionary Greece.
According to Theodoros Kolokotronis, the reason for choosing Kapodistrias was the inability of anyone else to rule satisfactorily.
It was not until August 1827 that he accepted the decision of the 3rd National Assembly of Troizina to assume the office of the governor of Greece. The initiative for this action was taken by the “Russian faction” led by Theodoros Kolokotroniswhich saw in the person of the Corfu diplomat not only the leader of all Greeks but also the unofficial representative of Russia in Greece. According to Kolokotronis, of course, the reason for choosing Kapodistrias was the inability of anyone else to rule the Greeks satisfactorily. “We had the idea of promoting Kapodistrian (1827); everyone was tested in the Governorships, and at worst we were exacerbating the nation by our dissensions”, he characteristically wrote in his Memoirs.
The initiative of the Russian faction was also supported by the French faction, which was represented mainly by the Roumeliote chieftains, led by the Gianniotis doctor Ioannis Kolettis. Any objections from members of the English faction came when they ensured that the British Churches and Cochrane would be appointed to the positions of army and fleet leaders. Those who, however, disagreed with the election of Kapodistrias, did not dare to react, seeing the acceptance he had from the people.
The proposal to move to Greece as governor did not come from any faction, but from the National Assembly.
Kapodistrias, on the other hand, changed his attitude on the issue of taking over the political leadership of the Greeks, naturally reflecting on positive change of the international climate towards the revolutionaries. The fact that the proposal to go to Greece as governor did not come from some faction that supported his election, but from the National Assembly, which surrounded the proposal with the necessary legitimacy, definitely contributed.
On the morning of January 8/20, 1828, the British warship “Warspite”, on which Ioannis Kapodistrias was aboard, accompanied by French and Russian ships, approached Nafplio. A little later he disembarked at the port of the city, where he was received as a “Messiah” by its impoverished inhabitants. “Never did people more favorably receive their redeemer. And the military and the politician and the private citizen of Greece all enjoyed this joy, because they all needed it”, wrote Spyridon Trikoupis describing the feelings of the Greeks for the arrival of the governor in their homeland. Being a humble man, Kapodistrias did not let the joy of taking on his duties take him away. Avoiding procrastination, he immediately implemented his plan to create a modern state almost from scratch. A new chapter of Greek history had just begun.
Column editor: Myrto Katsigera, Vassilis Minakakis, Antigoni-Despina Poimenidou, Athanasios Syroplakis
