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French consuls and Philhellenism in the 1820s: official positions and personal sentiments1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2017

Alexandre Massé
Alexandre Massé*
Affiliation:
Université Toulouse 2 Jean-Jaurèsmasse.alexandre.pierre@gmail.com
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Abstract

In 1821, the Greek uprising against Ottoman rule gave rise to a sympathetic movement in Europe: Philhellenism. France decided to remain neutral. Yet when trying to apply this neutrality in practice, the French consuls in the Ottoman Empire encountered several problems, such as the arrival of Philhellenic volunteer fighters. Furthermore, they were torn between their professional obligations and their personal views. In this context, how did the consuls perceive Philhellenism and the Philhellenic volunteers? To what extent were they able to express their Philhellenism or Mishellenism? This study examines consular correspondence of the period in an attempt to answer these questions.

Keywords

GreeceOttoman EmpireFrench consulsconsuls of Francewar of independencePhilhellenismPhilhellenes
Type
Articles
Information
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , April 2017 , pp. 103 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham, 2017 

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Footnotes

1

This work was conducted as part of the SMS LABEX, reference ANR-11-LABX-0066.

References

2 In the context of this article, Philhellenism is understood as being a political movement made up of the thoughts, actions and initiatives supporting Greek interests, either as part of a struggle for independence, a struggle for expansion of borders, or in physical or diplomatic conflict with another state. This political movement took different forms, since it was characterized by a combination of intellectual, artistic, and even military actions for those who left to fight alongside the Greek troops.

3 Archives du ministère des Affaires étrangères et européennes (henceforth AMAEE), Correspondance politique (henceforth CP), Turquie, vol. 244, ff. 105bis-106.

4 David, P., L'Alexandréïde ou la Grèce vengée, poème en vingt-quatre chants par Pierre David, officier de la légion d'honneur, chevalier de l’éperon d'or, ancien consul-général en Asie, membre de l'académie de Caen et Rome, fondateur de celle de Smyrne, 2 vols (Paris 1827–9)Google Scholar. David, P., Athènes assiégée. Poème, par Sylvain Phalantée, membre de l'Académie des Arcades, associé correspondant de l'académie tibérine, l'un des fondateurs de celle de Smyrne (Paris 1827)Google Scholar.

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6 Ulbert, J. and Prijac, L. (eds), Consuls et services consulaires au XIXe siècle (Hamburg 2010)Google Scholar.

7 These consuls’ letters or memoirs have been preserved and sorted into several collections: Correspondance consulaire et commerciale (henceforth CCC) and the Correspondance politique des consuls (henceforth CPC) in the archives of the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs at La Courneuve and the Archives des postes at Nantes.

8 AMAEE, Nantes, Archives des postes, Athènes 2, 4e et 6e chemises, ADdI and ADi3.

9 AMAEE, CCC, Scio 8, f. 26, letter of 4 May 1823, Henri Guy to the minister of Foreign Affairs.

10 AMAEE, CCC, Smyrne 40, ff. 31–38, Pierre David to the minister, letter of 17 January 1824.

11 Ibid., f. 213bis.

12 AMAEE, CCC, Patras 4, ff. 51–51bis, letter of 14 June 1821.

13 A. Couderc, ‘L'Europe et la Grèce, 1821–1830: Le Concert européen face à l’émergence d'un État-nation’, Bulletin de l'Institut Pierre Renouvin 2015/2 (N° 42) 47–74.

14 On the creation of the Greek state and the phases of the uprising, see Woodhouse, C. M., The Greek War of Independence: Its Historical Setting (London 1952)Google Scholar and Modern Greece: A Short History (London 1968) (London and Boston, 1991) and Brewer, D., The Greek War of Independence: The Struggle for Freedom from Ottoman Oppression and the Birth of the Modern Greek Nation (New York 2001)Google Scholar and Koliopoulos, G. S. and Veremis, T. M., Greece: The Modern Sequel: From 1821 to the Present (London 2002)Google Scholar.

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17 J. Dimakis has calculated the time for transmitting information during the Greek insurrection. For information leaving Paris, it took 31–45 days to reach Constantinople, 33–52 to reach Smyrna, 23–39 for Corfu, 30–42 days for Crete and 42–55 days for Dimakis, Cyprus. J., La guerre de l'indépendance grecque vue par la presse française périodique de 1821 à 1824 (Thessaloniki 1968) 51 Google Scholar.

18 On Philhellenism see Barau, D., La cause des Grecs: une histoire du mouvement philhellène, 1821–1829 (Paris 2009)Google Scholar and Mazurel, H., Vertiges de la guerre. Byron, les philhellènes et le mirage grec (Paris 2013)Google Scholar.

19 AMAEE, CCC, Smyrne 38, f. 320, Patras 4, f. 68bis, Corfou 7, f. 105, Athènes 3, f. 133.

20 AMAEE, CCC, Patras 4, f. 215.

21 AMAEE, CCC, Corfou 8, f. 388. See Beaton, R., Byron's War. Romantic Rebellion, Greek Revolution (Cambridge 2013)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

22 AMAEE, CCC, Larnaca 17, ff. 106–106bis. See Mazurel, H., Désirs de guerre et rêves d'ailleurs: la croisade philhellène des volontaires occidentaux de la guerre d'indépendance grecque (Lille 2010) 548–58Google Scholar.

23 AMAEE, CCC, Patras 4, f. 324.

24 AMAEE, CCC, Corfou 7, f. 281.

25 AMAEE, CCC, Smyrne 38, ff. 4–4bis.

26 Mazurel, Désirs de guerre et rêves d'ailleurs, 736.

27 Ibid., 737.

28 AMAEE, CCC, Patras 4, f. 212bis.

29 AMAEE, CCC, Athènes 3, f. 133.

30 AMAEE, CCC, Larnaca 16, f. 275bis.

31 AMAEE, CP, Turquie, volume 245, f. 423bis.

32 AMAEE, CCC, Larnaca 17, f. 129bis.

33 AMAEE, CCC, Smyrne 42, f. 301.

34 AMAEE, CCC, Patras 4, f. 70.

35 Barau, La cause des Grecs, 429–30.

36 AMAEE, CCC, Arta 4, f. 260.

37 AMAEE, CCC, Corfou 7, f. 354bis.

38 Ibid., f. 368bis, f. 401.

39 He is referring to the town of Arta.

40 AMAEE, CCC, Corfou 7, f. 357.

41 Ibid., f. 357bis.

42 Ibid., f. 355.

43 Ibid., f. 354bis.

44 Ibid., f. 369.

45 Ibid., f. 435bis.

46 Échinard, P., Grecs et Philhellènes à Marseille de la Révolution française à l'indépendance de la Grèce (Marseille 1973) 164−9 Google Scholar. On these disenchanted Philhellenes see also Barau, La cause des Grecs, 647–66.

47 Barau, op. cit., 648–9.

48 For example, see AMAEE, CCC, Corfou 8, f. 327.

49 AMAEE, CCC, Corfou 8, f. 246.

50 AMAEE, CCC, Smyrne 37, ff. 152–154.

51 Barau, La cause des Grecs, 660.

52 Unfortunately, these instructions have not been found.

53 AMAEE, CCC, Corfou 8, f. 326bis.

54 AMAEE, CCC, Smyrne 38, f. 319bis.

55 The refusal of other European consulates was temporary. In May 1823, Pierre David informed the Ministry that the consulates of Great Britain, Sweden, Prussia, and Austria no longer allowed Philhellenes to roam the streets of Smyrna and helped them return to their home countries. AMAEE, CCC, Smyrne 38, f. 322.

56 AMAEE, CCC, Smyrne 37, ff. 152–154.

57 AMAEE, CCC, Smyrne 38, ff. 226–226.

58 Ibid., f. 226, f. 321bis.

59 Cf. AMAEE, CCC, Smyrne 40, f. 329.

60 Ibid., f. 329bis.

61 Ibid., f. 424bis. The last expense account he sent in December 1824 shows that the elite Philhellenes were lodged in a hotel and that others had been placed in hospitals.

62 A. Massé, ‘Les consuls de France et la guerre d'indépendance grecque. Intervention, neutralité ou colonisation?’, in Ulbert and Prijac (eds), Consuls et services consulaires au XIXe siècle, 94–106.

63 Tollias, G., La Médaille et la Rouille. L'image de la Grèce moderne dans la presse littéraire parisienne (1794–1815) (Paris 1997) 112 Google Scholar.

64 He was posted to the island from February to April 1829, after having headed the consulate in Thessaloniki.

65 AMAEE, CP, Turquie, volume 258, ff. 84, 94.

66 Ibid., f. 73bis, for example.

67 Basch, S., Le mirage grec: La Grèce moderne devant l'opinion française (1846–1946) (Paris 1995) 495 Google Scholar.

68 AMAEE, CCC, Larnaca 16, f. 390bis.

69 AMAEE, CCC, Larnaca 17, f. 86.

70 AMAEE, CP, Turquie, volume 249, f. 242bis.

71 Basch, Le mirage grec, 495.

72 AMAEE, CCC, Smyrne 38, f. 323.

73 Ibid., f. 319bis.

74 Mazurel, Désirs de guerre et rêves d'ailleurs, 428.

75 AMAEE, CCC, Smyrne 38, f. 323.

76 AMAEE, CCC, Smyrne 37, f. 155.

77 AMAEE, CCC, Athènes 3, f. 133.

78 AMAEE, CCC, Corfou 7, f. 354bis, Smyrne 37, ff. 152–154.

79 Marcescheau was named French Consul at Arta on 22 July 1821. He obstinately refused to take up his post. Thus, he will not be discussed here although he expressed his support for the Greek cause in a work he addressed to the Ministry on 20 July 1823. AMAEE, CCC, Arta 4, ff. 343–346bis.

80 Pouqueville, F. Ch. H. L., Histoire de la régénération de la Grèce comprenant le précis des événements depuis 1740 jusqu'en 1824, 4 vols (Paris 1824)Google Scholar.

81 AMAEE, CCC, Patras 4, f. 243.

82 Ibid., f. 243bis.

83 Ibid. ff. 243bis-244.

84 Ibid., ff. 362–362bis.

85 Bouyssy, M., ‘Le Mémorial des Grecs miroir du philhellénisme des années 1820’, in Espagne, M. (ed.), Philhellénismes et transferts culturels dans l'Europe du XIXe siècle, 1–2/2005 (Paris 2005) 59 Google Scholar.

86 AMAEE, CCC, Corfou 7, ff. 462–492.

87 Ibid., ff. 478–478bis.

88 Ibid., f. 467bis.

89 Ibid., f. 468.

90 AMAEE, Nantes, Fonds Pierre David, 1 AE 61–13, f. 599.

91 AMAEE, CCC, Smyrne 37, ff. 19–20, Ministerial directives of 9 March 1822, ff. 320–328bis, letter of 15 September 1822, Pierre David to the Ministry.

92 David, L'Alexandréïde ou la Grèce vengée.

93 David, Athènes assiégée.

94 Ibid., 298.

95 On this topic, see Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, N. M., French Images from the Greek War of Independence, 1821–1830 (New Haven, CT and London 1989)Google Scholar; Nicolaïdis, D., D'une Grèce à l'autre. Représentation des Grecs modernes par la France révolutionnaire (Paris 1992)Google Scholar; Augustinos, O., French Odysseys. Greece in French Travel Literature from the Renaissance to the Romantic Era (Baltimore and London 1994)Google Scholar; and Mandilara, A., Nikolaou, G., Flitouris, L. and Anastassopoulos, N. (eds), Φιλελλησμός, Το ενδιαφέρον για Ελλάδα και τους Έλληνες από την Επανάσταση ως σήμερα (Athens 2015)Google Scholar.

96 Barau, La cause des Grecs, 56, 303.

97 AMAEE, CCC, Patras 5, ff. 242.

98 Guizot to Lagrenée, cited in Driault, É. and Lhéritier, M., Histoire diplomatique de la Grèce de 1821 à nos jours, I (Paris 1925) 209 Google Scholar.

99 AMAEE, CCC, Patras 5, ff. 247–247bis.

100 Clogg, R., A Concise History of Greece (Cambridge 2002) 53 Google Scholar.

101 Driault and Lhéritier, Histoire diplomatique de la Grèce, 384, 391–8.