Page 199 - Beholding Liberty!

Greek and every person within the Territory” under the protection of law. The Political Constitution strengthens habeas corpus and the protection of property, and aims to lay the foundations of a democratic political mentality, abolishing titles of nobility and corresponding forms of address for the citizens of the Greek territory. The Greek constitution was informed by a liberal democrat- ic spirit since its very inception. Two leading exponents of European liberal political thought, Ada- mantios Korais and Jeremy Bentham, sought to encourage and strengthen the liberal spirit of the early Greek constitutionalism by their commentaries on the articles of the Provisional Government of Greece. The relevant texts which they dedicated to the first Greek constitution – Korais’s Notes on the Provisional Government of Greece and Bentham’s commentary on the French translation of the Provisional Government – included in C.D. Raffenel’s History of the Events of Greece, serve as most compelling evidence of the theoretical interest aroused in European political thought by the attempts of the Greek revolutionaries to draft a “Free State”.
Of particular interest are the three earliest Greek constitutional charters in terms of their pro- visions in favour of religious freedom. In its first article, the Provisional Government of Greece calls the religion of the Eastern Orthodox Church “predominant” in the Greek territory but adds that the Greek State “tolerates any other religion, and the rites and rituals of all religions shall be conducted freely.” This article is repeated verbatim in the Law of Epidaurus. In its first article, however, the Political Constitution of Troezen firstly announces that “everyone in Greece exercises their religion freely and enjoys equal rights in worship”. Hence, absolute religious freedom is pro- claimed; secondarily, it is added that “the religion of the Territory” is that of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The constitutional charters of the Revolution, therefore, went as far as establishing the principle of religious freedom, which guarantees the secular character of the state; they left the question of regulating the status of the Orthodox Church within the borders of the Greek territory to be dealt with at a later time.
This was the acquis of liberal constitutionalism bequeathed by the charters of the Struggle to the constitutional tradition of the Greek state. The normative implications of this legacy are evident, for instance, in its invocation within the Ionian Radicalism in the 1860s, when Joseph Momfer- ratos mentions the constitutions of the Struggle as exemplars for the democratic regeneration of Greece. Characteristically, Joseph Momferratos cited the Constitution of Troezen in October 1864, during the meetings of the Second National Assembly, in discussing the establishment of national sovereignty, from which the new constitution under consideration should not deviate by granting privileges to the crown which would undermine its unadulterated and undisputed exercise by the nation.
Despite its provision for securing civil liberties and human rights, the Political Constitution of 1827 differs markedly from the first two constitutional charters of revolutionary Greece, in terms of the special provisions adopted in relation to the Governor, the holder of executive power. Ev- idently, the Political Constitution of Greece was drafted in a climate of waiting for the imminent arrival of Ioannis Capodistrias in the struggling, devastated country. While Article 36 of the Po- litical Constitution categorically confirms the principle of separation of powers, Articles 102–125 invest the Governor with powers that make him the supreme head of state. Thus, in the wake of the Revolution, now facing the pressing challenge of state-building, the nation’s representatives to the Third Greek National Assembly appear ready for the compromises dictated by the require- ments of political realism.
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