Page 173 - Beholding Liberty!

HALL OF THE TROPHIES
IΙ.1.13
Ioannis Filimon
Historical treatise about the Greek Revolution, vol. III Athens: Printing House of P. Soutsas & A. Ktenas, 1860
Library of the Hellenic Parliament
THE HISTORIAN AND FIGHTER Io- annis Filimon describes the convention of the Mes- sinian Senate (23 March 1821) under Petros Mav- romichalis, who divested himself of «the old man of the Turkish rule» and emerged as «Command- er-in-Chief now Greek», bearing the cross of Ortho- doxy and encouraging the crowds with the words: «Greek’s neck will not tolerate the yoke».
The Messinian Senate was a local revolutionary au-
IΙ.1.14
Assembly of the Kaltezoi – Constitution of the Peloponnesian Senate (26 May 1821) Archives of the Greek Regeneration, vol. 1, no 441 [pp. 441-442]
Library of the Hellenic Parliament
THE ASSEMBLY OF KALTETZES was held at the end of May 1821 on the initiative of the Messinian Senate in the similarly called mon- astery, in Mantineia. In the course of this pan-Pelo- ponnesian assembly Petrobeis Mavromichalis was acting as president and Rhigas Palamides as sec- retary. The assembly issued on 26 May an Act by which the election of an executive committee named «Peloponnesian Senate» was made public, to which ipso jure all local government institutions of the region appertained. The reasoning behind the initiative under discussion was «The overall or- derliness of the affairs of our homeland the Pelo- ponnese and the fortunate outcome of the sacred struggle at hand for the venerable freedom of our Race [...]». This is the first constitutional text of the revolted Greeks.
thority, which was formed immediately after the oc- cupation of Kalamata and issued a proclamation un- der the title «Warning towards the European courts», via which it declared the start of the Greek Revolution, asking at the same time the contribution of the Euro- pean states. With a second proclamation it addressed a plea for help to the expatriates of Livorno and Pisa. This local body continued to exist until the convention of the Assembly of Kaltetzes, in May 1821.
SCENES AND FIGURES OF FREEDOM The eruption of the Revolution 173