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issue of the boundaries of the Greek territory back on the table. Two events contributed deci- sively to the radical change of climate: the coincidence in time of Leopold’s resignation with the outbreak of the July Revolution in France, which resulted in the accession of Louis-Philippe to the French throne, and the change of government a few months later in Great Britain, where in November 1830 the Wellington government was succeeded by the Grey government, with Lord Palmerston as Foreign Secretary.
After more than a year of diplomatic inaction on the Greek Question, caused by the shift of the Great Powers’ focus from Greece to the successive revolts of the Italians, the Poles and the Belgians, Great Britain, France and Russia proceeded on 14/26 September 1831 to conclude a new Protocol, again in London. On the basis of this protocol, having previously acknowledged that the border line between the Spercheios and Acheloos did not provide the required safe- guards, they decided to move the boundaries of Greek territory northwards to the Amvraki- kos-Pagasitikos line.25
The conclusion of the Protocol justified both the expectations and the negotiating manoeuvres of Kapodistrias, who, taking advantage of the circumstances, had managed to combine the solution of full independence for Greece with the enlargement of its borders. However, the undoubted success of the governor in the diplomatic arena was not enough to eliminate the opposition to him within Greece. His assassination on 27 September/9 October 1831 – that is, only two weeks after the signing of the London Protocol – by Constantine and George Mavromichalis outside the church of Saint Spyridon in Nafplion, wrote the tragic end, not only of the governor’s own life, but also of the first organised attempt to establish effective structures for the Greek state.
Protocol of Conversations between the plenipotentiaries of the three Great Powers
in the framework
of the London Conference (London, 4 January 1830) Archives of the Greek Regeneration, vol. 25, document [p. 13]
Documents of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, Copy 1
Library of the Hellenic Parliament [cat. no ΙΙ.6.3]
24. [Foreign Office], Papers relative to the affairs of Greece, 1826-1832, Harrison, London 1835, pp. 539-604; Foreign Office, British and foreign state papers, 1829-1830, vol. 17,
pp. 453-504, 514-527;
Correspondance du comte J. Capodistrias, vol. 4, pp. 431-442; Prodromos Dagtoglou, “Ioannis Kapodistrias, Baron von Stein and Prince Leopold”, Scientific Yearbook of the School of Legak and Economic Sciences of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 12, 1966, pp. 79-123; Apostolos Daskalakis, «The reasons the led Leopold to resign from the Greek throne and the supposed responsibility of Kapodistrias”, Scientific Yearbook of the School of Philosophy of the University of Athens, 17, 1966-1967, pp. 111-167; William P. Kaldis, “Leopold and the Greek crown”, Balkan Studies, 8.1, 1967,
pp. 53-64; Christou, The borders of the Greek state, vol. 1, pp. 199-205.
25. Correspondance du comte J. Capodistrias, vol. 4, pp. 1-5; Fleming, John Capodistrias, pp. 113-141;
C. W. Crawley, John Capodistrias. Some unpublished documents, Institute for Balkan Studies, Thessaloniki 1970, pp. 38-42; Foreign Office, British and foreign state papers, 1829-1830, vol. 17, pp. 218-220; Skoufos, Collection of Treaties, pp. 178-197; Evangelidis, History of Ioannis Kapodistrias,
pp. 275-372; Apostolos E. Vakalopoulos, History of modern Hellenism, vol. 8, Herodotus, Athens 2007, pp. 511-530; Christou,
The borders of the Greek state, vol. 1, pp. 170-199.
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