EDIOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis). Helleniscope shares with Lou Katsos a love for history. Lou was correct in raising the issue of the absence – during our various events – of references to the history of the Greek Revolution. Particularly because New York and America played a critical role in supporting the Revolution – and several Americans fought and died in Greece during the struggle… Below a small part of his speech in Bowling Green that made a sensation and Lou received a loud applause…
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Nick, You and I share the same love of history. Too bad our politics are different. We could have been great friends. Any way, American philhellenism can be divided in 3 parts. American citizens, reared in the classics, were enthusiastic when the news of the Greek revolution reached them. They organized fundraising and clothing and medical supplies collection. American supplies kept Greeks alive during the toughest years of the revolution, from 1825 onwards. However, that wasn’t the whole picture.
The American government, while praising the Greeks, did not lift a finger to help. The impediment was the institution of slavery. How can a country that was enslaving a portion of its people agitate for the freedom of others?
The worse part was American businesses. The Greeks had borrowed money from the London financial markets. They enquired in American naval yards for the building of two steamships. The price was set for two and agreement was signed. However, the ship builders kept asking for more money and delaying the delivery, to the point that the money for two ships wasn’t enough to deliver even one. They told the Greeks that unless they come up with the rest of the money, they weren’t going to get any ships at all. Finally, some American philhellenes persuaded Congress to work out a deal for the Greeks to at least go home with one ironclad. It was a huge financial set back for the struggling nation.
So, American philhellenism wasn’t all beneficial. It had its
Certainly the Hellenophiles from many nations made contributions to the liberation effort…but but as mentioned very insightfully above, business interests placed personal gain above morality. One example related the NY: John Jacob Astor of New York City was involved in the opium smuggling trade. His American Fur Company would purchase tons of Turkish opium then shipping the contraband item to China. One of the ships was called the “Macedonian.”