ked harbor. The fight lasted from three in the afternoon until
seven in the evening. All bravery was in vain when pitted against Western
seamanship and gunnery. In the course of a short afternoon one Turkish ship
after another was sunk or blown to pieces. By sundown little was left of
the Turkish fleet but a mass of wreckage. Only fifteen ships escaped, to be
scuttled by their own sailors. Four thousand Moslem seamen lost their
lives. All night long the Turkish gunners on shore kept up their fire. On
the morrow, when Ibrahim returned to Navarino, he found the waters of the
harbor strewn with wreckage and the floating bodies of his sailors. One of
the best accounts of the battle of Navarino has been given by Eugene Sue,
the novelist, who then served as surgeon on one of the French vessels.

[Sidenote: Greece saved]

The island of Hydra and with it all Greece was saved. The subsequent course
of Sultan Mahmoud was that of blind infatuation and fury. So far from
accepting the European demands for an armistice, he put forward a
peremptory request for an indemnity for the losses inflicted upon him. The
Ambassadors of the Powers quitted Constantinople. It was then that the loss
of Canning was felt in England. Instead of pursuing the vigorous policy to
which it stood committed by the battle of Navarino, Great Britain hung
back. Further intervention, with the profits accruing therefrom, was left
to Russia.

1828

[Sidenote: Peace of Tourkmanchay]

The time for undisturbed intervention in the East was most auspicious for
Russia. Peace with Persia was concluded early in the year. By the treaty of
Tourkmanchay, Fet Aly of Persia ceded to Russia the provinces of Erivan and
Nakhitchevan and paid an indemnity of 20,000,000 roubles. The river Araxes
was recognized as the frontier of both states. England's ascendency in
Persia was effectually set at naught. Even in China Emperor Taouk-Wang felt
encouraged to issue edicts prohibiting England's pernicious opium trade on
the Chinese coast. Russia's armies were now let loose on Turkey.

[Sidenote: Independence of Greece]

[Sidenote: Capodistrias summoned]

[Sidenote: Russia's double game]

[Sidenote: Understanding with France]

In the meanwhile, the Greeks profited by the Turkish check at Navarino to
assert themselves as an independent people. On January 18, Capodistrias,
the former Prime Minister of Russia, was summoned from Geneva and made
president of the Greek republi