1 Constructing Ionian Identities: The Ionian Islands in British Official Discourses; 1815-1864 Maria Paschalidi Department of History University College London A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to University College London 2009 2 I, Maria Paschalidi, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 3 Abstract Utilising material such as colonial correspondence, private papers, parliamentary debates and the press, this thesis examines how the Ionian Islands were defined by British politicians and how this influenced various forms of rule in the Islands between 1815 and 1864. It explores the articulation of particular forms of colonial subjectivities for the Ionian people by colonial governors and officials. This is set in the context of political reforms that occurred in Britain and the Empire during the first half of the nineteenth-century, especially in the white settler colonies, such as Canada and Australia. It reveals how British understandings of Ionian peoples led to complex negotiations of otherness, informing the development of varieties of colonial rule. Britain suggested a variety of forms of government for the Ionians ranging from authoritarian (during the governorships of T. Maitland, H. Douglas, H. Ward, J. Young, H. Storks) to representative (under Lord Nugent, and Lord Seaton), to responsible government (under W. Gladstone’s tenure in office). All these attempted solutions (over fifty years) failed to make the Ionian Islands governable for Britain. The Ionian Protectorate was a failed colonial experiment in Europe, highlighting the difficulties of governing white, Christian Europeans within a colonial framework. 4 Acknowledgements I owe many thanks to the UCL Graduate School and the Royal Historical Society, which have supported my research trips throughout this project. I want to thank the librarians, archivists, and staff especially at the British Library, University of London libraries, and the National Archives for their help. Many thanks, in particular, to Jonathan Bush at the University of Durham, who arranged to send me the Grey Papers. Thanks, too, to Andreas Papadatos, the ‘soul’ of the Reading Society of Corfu, for his wealth of knowledge and unfailing assistance with my last minute requests in sending material for me. I also want to thank the Curcumeli-Rodostamo family, particularly Piero and Mischel, for allowing access to their private archive, and especially Irene Curcumeli- Rodostamo for her time in helping me decipher the difficult handwriting of Henry Ward’s letters. I am indebted to my supervisor, Catherine Hall, for her interest, advice and assistance in guiding my work. In a very difficult personal time she offered me invaluable support, and encouragement to carry on with this thesis, which is much appreciated. I am grateful to my second supervisor, Dr. Axel Korner, for his valuable suggestions and comments for the revision of this thesis and for recommending the Marie Currie Eurodoctorate programme in Social History of Europe and the Mediterranean to me. 5 I owe a great debt to Alison Kitson, Adrian Berger and Mairi Hendry at the Institute of Education. In my greatest time of need they offered me a huge amount of support and advice. Being in the University of Venice for the Eurodoctorate was beneficial in many ways, intellectually and socially. There, I have been assisted in different ways by Stuart Woolf, Mario Infelise, Luca Pess and Lisa Cardin. Venice would have been a different, and lesser, experience if I had not met another colleague, Fiorentina Canstantin, whose optimism and intelligence inspired life (and continues to do so) beyond the books and libraries. I am also indebted to Efi Avdela, my undergraduate supervisor, who encouraged me to pursue postgraduate studies in history in Britain and whose wonderful friendship, generosity of spirit and intellect has been inspirational in ways that an acknowledgement cannot really express. I also thank her for critical comments, ideas and suggestions in earlier drafts of the thesis, and for always being there for me. There are a number of people whose support, advice, assistance, good humour, I have relied on over many years and to whom I owe many thanks. These include: Stuart Cocks, Katerina Datseri, Noula and Keti Apazidou, Andriana Zotou, Paris Papamixos-Xronakis, Elias Tsakanikos, Kevin Jones, John Marrill, Kate Quinn, Joanna Bourke, Maureen Randall. Thanks also to Argyris Papasyriopoulos for his valuable comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of the thesis. I owe a special thanks to Alexandra Athanasiou for her love and belief in me. 6 I own an enormous debt of gratitude to my friend Arlene Hui. She not only generously gave me her time, to edit the whole thesis and correct my English, but also offered her boundless support, warmth and friendship which has meant more to me and my family than we can say and has sustained us all, especially throughout the revision process. Special thanks also are due to my immediate and extended family for their incalculable love, material and moral support. To my mother Fotini Paschalidi, my nephew Kyriakos, and my parents in-law Anne and Alec Simms, I also owe particular gratitude for their immense time in childcare. I can not properly acknowledge the debt I own to my husband Paul. His love, understanding and unflagging support, as well as his computer skills, made everything possible. Lastly, but not least, I want to thank my son Alexi, for being the most wonderful distraction to the completion of the thesis. It is dedicated to both of them for being the joys of my life. 7 Table of Contents Introduction: Constructing colonial identities. The Ionian Islands in British official discourses 1815-1864. .................................................. 10 Introduction...................................................................................................... 10 Literature review:............................................................................................. 15 Constructions of character and race: Britons and Ionians.................................38 Methods and sources: ...................................................................................... 56 Geographical, social-economic and political background to the Ionian Islands62 Summary of the chapters. ................................................................................ 69 Chapter 1: The establishment of the British Protectorate in the Ionian Islands: Thomas Maitland and the Constitution of 1817...................74 Introduction...................................................................................................... 74 Britain in the early nineteenth century; politics and Empire.............................74 The place of the Islands in the British Empire ................................................. 76 British opinion divided........................................................................................79 The Treaty of Paris. ..........................................................................................82 Reactions to the settlement............................................................................... 85 Sir Thomas Maitland, an imperial man.............................................................89 “Our power rests solely in others belief in our superiority”: the Constitutional Charter..............................................................................................................95 The Constitution of 1817: Maitland’s powers defined....................................104 Conclusion......................................................................................................107 Chapter 2: The critics of the Constitution of 1817..................................... 110 Introduction.................................................................................................... 110 British Parliamentary reactions to Maitland’s rule in the Islands (1818-1824)110 “…We [are their] Guardians rather than [their] Masters”: The case of William Henry (1820) ..................................................................................................119 “The Lord High Commissioner governs the Ionian Islands absolutely and without responsibility”: The case of Ioannis Capodistria (1818-1820) ..........123 The Greek War of Independence (1821) and Maitland’s rule..........................129 Reactions in the House of Commons..............................................................137 Conclusion......................................................................................................143 Chapter 3: Debating the reform of the Ionian Constitution of 1817 in Septinsula during Nugent’s and Douglas’s administrations 1832- 1841........................................................................................................145 Introduction. .................................................................................................. 145 Lord George Nugent: a new spirit of liberalism..............................................148 Sir Howard Douglas: an autocrat. ..................................................................153 8 Douglas’s reform agenda in the Septinsula: health, religion, education and law. ........................................................................................................................155 The reform of the Constitution of 1817:........................................................