Chapter XIII

Chapter XIII

Baron Belio was in his office at 753 “Bekerstrase” Street. He was sitting on a chair with his body at its most comfortable position looking at the newspaper spread over his working desk. This was his twenty-fourth summer in Vienna maybe because his job meant everything to him or maybe because he was at the end of the third floor with a nice view of the outdoors. From there he could see the entire street and everything that went on outside. But because the eye was the first to steal a glance or a flash, it’s also first to admire the bell towers, the statues, the ornaments, the golden letters, the balconies and the windows with wrought iron bars. The air there was cooler and the scenery brighter... All this gave him pleasure.

Bekerstrase Street was located in the narrowest first circle of Vienna. It was surrounded by decor of baroque and Renaissance facades with four-storey buildings tied in rows and facing each other so close that they seemed to whisper to one another. To the north the street started at “Lugek-Plats”, a long-standing market, and led southeast to “Stubentor”. In the middle it had a small extension to the east where it met with “Dr. Ignats Seipel-plats”. That, in turn, was located between the former University and the Jesuit church. Light radiated from there and freshness flowed towards Belio’s office. Located in the small divide were “Upper Bekerstrase” and “Lower Bekerstrase” streets. Belio had become accustomed to the street sounds made by the passing crowds of people and coaches. In the mix he could also hear and distinguish the sounds coming from the shops located at street numbers 758 and 759. These sounds were made by the customers who went to these shops to purchase cloth and confections. Located one floor higher was the tailor shop belonging to the company “Dies”. In addition to the businesses and factories there were also houses on this street that belonged to influential and esteemed people. Here, a banker like Belio was like a fisherman shooting fish in a barrel. He worked a lot with Mr. Weber from the office next door to him, at number 752. Above the door

was an inscription from the Vienna directory which read: “Weber - a company with all kinds of Macedonian and Indian opium, and a tobacco factory.” Yes, tobacco and opium were in high demand; tobacco for the smokers and opium for everyone. It was available in every home as a cure for gout and other ailments. Macedonian opium was the most popular and most sought after.

Today the newspapers were full, from interesting news and advertisements to horoscopes and other information. Belio was familiar with the value of news and read every bit of it very carefully. There was news from London, Dresden, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Constantinople, etc... His name was sometimes in the news. Sometimes there was news about Macedonia, about the company at the same address as his office, about the brothers Anastas and Naum Adamov, and so on. Today there was news about the company “Dumba”. This was a company that sold mineral water. It belonged to the Dumbalov brothers who were born in Blatsa, the same village as his uncle Alexa. Recently there was news about the companies belonging to the Lazarev brothers from Shtip and to the Ikonomovs from Bitola... As for bankers, there was always news about them because there were so many in Vienna, especially powerful bankers from the vilayet, as well as the Rothschilds, the Kamondos and others, so they needed to be especially careful. This was the seventh summer of Baron Gorgi Sina, Simon’s son, who had been elected Director of the National Bank at the proposal of the ten largest banks. As first man of the bankers, Sina was an envoy to the emperor. He owned a number of wholesale stores and lived at 511 “Markte” Street. Solomon Rothschild became the first Jewish baron in the summer of 1822. His bank had been established two years earlier and was responsible for financing the construction of the first railway lines. The other bankers helped him to become a baron. In those days they didn’t fight one another. They invested in real wars from which they all profited, especially from the rise and fall of countries and changing prices of commodities. The bankers insisted that new laws be passed and new authorities be appointed through which they could easily influence events and people. The latest wars not only reshaped the Ottoman Empire but also introduced local governments in Serbia, Walachia and Greece.

Baron Belio too became an influencer from the banking side. He set out for Athens in April 1832, to assist in making Athens Greece’s capital. There were rumours that Corinth, Megara, and Nafplion had been set aside to be the capital. Currently Nafplion was the capital but Belio wanted Athens. As an experienced investor, Belio knew that the properties in Athens were worthless at the time, so he bought two plots of land with vineyards and a house for practically nothing. Everything was worthless at the time when the Greeks were fighting against the Ottomans and each other. Behind the clashes between the various Greek factions hid the Great Powers. Half a year had passed since the assassination of Greek President Kapodistria, which was a blow to Russian interests. Kapodistria was a former Russian count and a minister. He was trusted by the Russian tsar who took him to the Congress of Vienna when the borders of Europe were being drawn. His death sparked a war between a pro-Russian, pro-British, pro-French, and what not, party. The most experienced leaders, who survived the Ottoman bullet, were now locked in a struggle for supremacy over the un-liberated country. Two and a half summers ago before Kapodistria, the first leader of the uprising was Alexander Ypsilanti. He was a former Russian major general and commander of the First Hussar Division. He had participated in many battles against Napoleon and was a personal aide to Tsar Alexander I. He also died during the Greek struggle.

Belio arrived in Athens in the middle of a new escalation of assassinations and persecutions. Athens at the time was a larger village of four to five thousand mostly Arnaut (Albanian) inhabitants. It is true, according to the ruins found there, this was a city in ancient times but it wasn’t viewed as a city today. It had no prospects of becoming a city let alone a capital city. It had no more than four hundred houses, was without drinking water from springs, had no night lighting, no roads, no food and the streets were muddy. The shops were dirty and had a bad smell. There were no visible workers anywhere, not even village fairs, let alone people of Belio’s rank. In his notebook, full of all kinds of information, Belio wrote:

“There are no houses in the world that are similar to those in Athens. The people of Athens live like those in primitive times. They live in white-washed shacks made of wooden stakes and rods, covered with

mud along the walls. The walls are rough and only up to five fingers thick. On top of that the inhabitants don’t want to maintain them. I don’t know what to think, except to marvel at their backwardness.”

After gathering everything he needed in Athens, Belio left for Nafplion where more comfortable conditions awaited for him, but also more difficult negotiations. While leaving Athens he ran into a German architect named Eduard Schauber, near a water spring. He and his colleague were surveying the land and making records of it. They had been doing this since November 1831, but didn’t say much.

“Dear Baron, other places may have better chances but we have orders to make this the capital. We also have colleagues working in other places. But, lately, it was considered and decided that this place would be the capital,” said Schauber.

This, for the experienced banker, was more evidence that Athens would be the location for the Greek capital. He also knew how much King Ludwig was carried away by the ancient days of Athens - the centre of ancient Greece, which never before existed as a country. King Ludwig introduced the ancient Greek language into the schools in Bavaria and built a building like the Parthenon in Munich, which became a centre for Hellenism. Many were outraged. Even the most prestigious historian Fallmerayer became involved in the outrage, proving in deeds that the present day Greeks had nothing to do with the ancient Greeks. At least three major historical breaks had occurred since then, he explained. But, given the euphoria that was started, no one was willing to listen. Written on Fallmerayer’s epithet were the words “Greece’s biggest enemy”. That’s why Belio wasn’t given details by the architects in Athens. King Ludwig didn’t want any more problems...

The strangest of all was the role of the Ottomans in all this. Athens was guarded by Ottoman guards even though the Great Powers had taken these lands away from them. The Great Powers had created this little state and each wanted it as their own protectorate in order to have a watchtower in the sea to watch over Europe, Asia and Africa, especially Britain and the smaller but not less influential Bavaria. Resisting them were Russia and France.

Baron Belio didn’t go to Greece just to be a speculator. He also had a political aim; to take care of the unfortunate Macedonians who lived there. About ten summers ago the Negush Uprising took place in Macedonia. As a result many people fled. Around 1829 five hundred and forty-five families, totaling two and a half thousand people, were displaced from the affected areas and resettled near Atalanti, in Lokrida. In March last year one hundred and fifty haiduks, their leaders and comrades descended from Mariovo and Bitola to Solun. The Ottomans then drove them down to Atalanti. These illegal armed formations roaming in Macedonia weighed heavily on the Ottomans so they drove them down to Greece. They were hoping the haiduks would become involved in the Greek rival war and stay away from causing problems in Macedonia. Kapodistria received them at the request of the Russians who could trust them because they were Slavs and might be useful in the future. Unfortunately the Macedonian refugees didn’t fair well in Greece and word got out that they were struggling to survive. As a result many wealthy Macedonians in Vienna became concerned and established a fund to purchase food, medicine, construction materials for building houses, churches and everything else that was needed. Belio was their envoy in charge of negotiating the help with the government in Nafplion. These rich Macedonians were thinking of purchasing lands in Atalanti, where a city could be built for the homeless Macedonians. Belio was even more passionate than King Ludwig about antiquity. But, unlike Ludwig, Belio was thinking of the glorious days of his native Macedonians. That is why he was interested in Ludwig’s plan for Athens, only the city that Belio was going to build would be called Nova Pella; named after King Philip of Macedonia and his son Alexander’s capital city. Atalanti was the closest place to Macedonia and it was free from the Ottomans. Belio even started a fund to hire a commission to get permission and prepare the groundwork to settle and accommodate the current and future refugees from Macedonia. Belio and the other rich Macedonians truly cared about the unfortunate Macedonians back home. These rich people incited an uprising in Negush in March 1821, by sending the insurgents weapons and other necessities. But after the uprising was put down the consequences fell upon those on the ground who had no political power. In other words, they instigated the Macedonian liberation and supported it as much as

they could but only with material help. The Greek uprising, on the other hand, was supported by great forces and interests. The Macedonians unfortunately also made mistakes. The insurgent leadership consisted mainly of inexperienced fighters who fought in large formations and regions. Yes, the Greeks had the same problem but they were supported by Great Power fleets, international volunteers and emissaries from Europe like Lord Byron of Britain, about whom the barons Belio and Sina had talked before Belio left for Greece.

“I know you once negotiated for Metternich, but be careful in Greece. Don’t get involved in their varying interests like everyone else who went there. Every political faction tried to recruit Lord Byron the moment he arrived in Kefalonia. He had no peace after he became associated with Mavrocordato. The Suliots demanded more and more money from him. If he didn’t give them more money they threatened to go to the Ottoman side!” (The Sulios were Orthodox Albanians from Epirus. They were named after their village Suli, which was central to the sixty other villages. The Suliots were more like a tribal clan than a nation).

“The first time he gave them six thousand pounds to pay for government salaries. He gave the money to Mavrocordato and we know what an idiot he was when he fled here with his uncle Karadzha in 1818. Byron grew up giving away money. Before he died he wrote about the vain sacrifices he made there.”

“Yes, but it was rumoured that with his investment he was hoping to become king of Greece. He was a nobleman, the sixth lord in the line of his ancestors!”

“Titles, money and property didn’t matter to Byron; he was an idealist and adventurer. The Abbot of London refused to bury him for two days because he’d led an ‘immoral’ life!”

“Titles didn’t mean anything to him because he was born with them! The churches too were against him and against revolutions. Patriarch Gregory from the Phanar cursed him and the uprisings in Walachia, Macedonia and Greece. Patriarch Gregory prohibited the

burial of revolutionaries, just like the abbot of London in defense of the lord.”

“But the Fanar was not beyond avoiding evil. And, as the saying goes, ‘Do unto others as you have them do unto you!’ The patriarchs in the Fanar and the Ottomans committed real evil, not just by cursing. Some time ago they punished Archbishop Arsenia Ohridski and Bishop Ilarion Meglenski. So, the evil they committed came back to bite them. As soon as Sultan Mahmud figured out that the Phanar’s influence on the Christians was weak, he struck at them…! He struck at them because they were at his mercy. The Ottomans were losing lands and Mohammedans were suffering, so the sultan took revenge on the Phanar…” said Belio with some difficulty. He paused for a moment and continued:

“Sixty years earlier the Phanar committed the same evil against Bishop Hilarion, bishop of Meglen Region, with trumped up charges. On the first day of Easter, in 1759, the bishop gave the last liturgy in tears when soldiers and bashibozuks came to put the entire population in Meglen Region under the knife... However, they didn’t kill anyone because the bishop took this flock away from Christ and surrendered it to Mohamed... Then, in 1821, when Patriarch Gregory gave the last liturgy, he too wept when the bashibozuks arrived at the church of ‘St. George’ in the Phanar. They were enraged and showed no mercy, taking revenge on the Phanar for the attacks on the Ottomans in the Peloponnesus. Gregory was hung at the church gate and left there for days. The Christians at the Phanar also suffered immensely. This cruelty committed during Easter enraged Europe, which began to call for revenge.”

“Yes, revenge without end! The Ottomans lit up because their people were beaten so they beat the Christians. The Greeks then beat thousands of Ottomans in Chios. Then, for the slaughter in Phanar, Europe lit up with new volunteers from everywhere.”

“But they quickly saw the hatred and murders among the Christians. Scott Finley who arrived at the same time as Lord Byron wrote about those bloodthirsty people.”

“Habits are difficult to break. The new Greek government desperately wanted to adopt the absolute Ottoman rule but those who went there from various different countries brought their own interests with them, causing more tribal divisions.”

Yes, it was difficult to create one nation from so many different people. The Arnauts (Albanians) were the most numerous, and Arvanitika (Albanian) was the most common language in Greece. The new nation began to coalesce but only a little and only after Bavaria forced it to adopt the Greek language. And this was only because the numerous Arnaut Christians boasted of being bigger Greeks than everyone else. When it came to looting or self interests, their differences spilled over into conflicts. The Vlachs too melted into the new nation. They were numerous too and covered entire regions. For more than a century Thessaly was called “Great Walachia”, and Aetolia “Little Walachia”. There were also Macedonians mixing in behind the scenes but they weren’t like the first two nations. The Macedonians were involved because they had been driven down from the north by Ottoman oppression. They allied themselves with their Christian counterparts in the south and assisted them during the Peloponnesian uprising, with hopes that they would help the Macedonians when they raised their uprising. Unfortunately that help never materialized. These people simply followed their own selfish interests which, in turn, resulted in perpetual conflicts. Even the outsiders and volunteers who fought for the Greeks were divided. The Greek Mohammedans had one interest, the Ionians another and the Moreans a third. Even their first constitution, drafted by the three in June 1827 was vague. The borders of the country, their identity, character and future of all those people were unknown. Article four of their constitution said: “The Greek provinces will be those that will be taken away from the Ottomans by force of arms”, and the Greeks will be “all those who inhabited the new state and who believed in Christ. Those who have arrived or will be arriving from all sides of the Ottoman Empire will also be Greeks!”

The first president of Greece was Georgios Kondouriotis. He held office for three summers, until 1826, and thought of himself as Greek. He was an Orthodox Albanian from the Zervas family! Baron Belio clearly saw a shift from one national consciousness to

another and to a third taking place in those few months that he was there. Belios’s extended stay in Greece came from requests made by the various party leaders. When these party leaders found out more about Belio when he was in Corinth and Nafplion, they set out to win him over to their cause. Belio, however, was careful not to get involved with anyone because his only concern was the Macedonians. He especially stayed away from Coletis, leader of the Rumeliots. He was a cunning man who was trying to form a government by using “Divide and rule” tactics. It was rumoured that he was behind the death of Odysseus Androusis and the quarrels between Prince Ypsilanti and Mavrocordato. Coletis had studied medicine in Italy and, having experience on how to deal with various people, knew how to negotiate but also how to plot. Before returning to Vienna, Baron Belio wrote him a letter. But neither that letter nor all the conversations he had with the various leaders could bridge the divisions between them. Belio had no confidence in achieving the things he set out to do.

And now, when he was back in his office in Vienna going through the newspapers, Belio noticed that things were starting to happen with all that unrest, not only in Greece but all over Europe. The past two summers had been marked by poor harvests, cholera and famine, creating a rise in riots, revolutions and new states. The first revolutions, which didn’t succeed, took place in Italy and Poland. Those in France and Belgium, however, were successful. In July 1830, the French Revolution overthrew the Bourbons and King Charles X after he passed a series of absolutist acts, like dissolving the National Guard, Parliament, etc., issuing the “July Decrees” and censoring the press. After three days of street fighting in late July, the people of Paris persecuted him all over the country. Then, in August of the same year, the people in Brussels rose up and started a revolution in the south part of Holland which gave birth to Belgium, a new kingdom. The Great Powers resisted the revolts but didn’t help Holland. They themselves were facing similar riots and threats. The revolution in Belgium was aided by the new French revolutionary government. This was the year when King Leopold became king of Belgium. Leopold was the prince of Saxe Coburg and Gotha. He was first offered the title of King of Greece but refused it, playing it safe with Belgium.

But even with all those revolutions and plagues going on, there was some economic movement with the growth of the railroad which shortened distances and travel times. Baron Belio was now preparing to go on a bank trip to Cologne, in the Rhineland. Since Saxony had been defeated during the war, according to the Vienna Congress, it now belonged to Protestant Prussia whose rule the people couldn’t tolerate. Cologne, being the most powerful city in the region, began to lead the entire region forward, linking trade, transport and economy, especially trade with Holland and northern Germany. Cologne had been the centre of sugar trade since 1821, with over fifteen large companies whose number kept growing. Cologne had also developed into a strong centre for lending, insurance and mortgaging. In 1825 a fire insurance company first appeared in Germany. Yes, this was where Baron Belio would make his new money. Belio best suppressed his worries only when he played big money games.