Page 214 - Beholding Liberty!

214 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
The year 1822 began with the atrocious massacre by the Ottomans of tens of thousands of Greeks at Chios (30 March),
in retaliation for the declaration of Revolution on the island by a movement of Samian revolutionaries with Lykourgos Logothetis
as their leader, who landed on Chios and abolished the Ottoman authorities. Out of the 100.000 inhabitants of the island, about 30.000 were slaughtered or captured, while the remaining ones fled on Psarian ships as refugees to other islands and the revolted southern Greece. The island was burnt down by the Turks. Spyridon Trikoupis characterizes the destruction of Chios
as «destruction of destructions»,
since for a moment the impression was given that «the Turks swore to annihilate the Greek race» (Trikoupis Sp., «Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως [History
of the Greek Revolution]», Athens 1926, vol. II, pp. 136-137).
This specific dramatic event shocked
the European public opinion, which started gradually turning in favour
of the Greek cause.
At the same time, in the years 1822-1823, the Revolution had begun