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736 KONSTANTIINOS HA.T20IP0UŁ06 15

Em. Xanthos also writes in his memoirs about the sum of 12,000 Austrian ducats, which were supposed “to be sent to the Greek merchant Ioannis Amvrosios in Odessa”, according to the orders of G. Kantakouzi-nos ^#5. But finally, as Em. Xanthos mentions in his memoirs, he had sent these 12,000 Austrian ducats to G. Kantakouzinos “to spare him the ragę of the unpaid soldiers” ^M, which is not confirmed in his correspondence published in the appendix of his memoirs.

Yet, the letter in ąuestion elucidates the case of these 12,000 Austrian ducats. Em. Xanthos confirms the statement in his memoirs and informs us that before his departure from Bessarabia (27 June, 1821), he gave G. Kantakouzinos about 100,000 rubles (corresponding nearly to 12,000 Austrian ducats), with the “Lady’s approyal” (he means of Ipsilantis’ mother)⁶⁷.

VI. G. KANTAKOUZINOS’ DESERTION AND THE BATTLE OF SKULENI

Extremely strange appears Em. Xanthos’ opinion in connection with the running away of G. Kantakouzinos from Moldavia, only two or three days before the battle between the Greek revolutionary forces of Moldavia and the Ottoman army opposite of the town Skuleni (17 of June 1821). While all the other memoir-writers of that period and all the other histo-rians have chai acterized the running away of “the Field Marshal of the reyolutionary forces of Moldavia” as a treachery, a desertion and a shame-ful abandonment of his fellow-revolutionaries, Em. Xanthos finds excuses for G. Kantakouzinos’ behavipur and considers Konstantinos Pendedekas, the previous commander of Moldavia, and his partisans to be responsible for G. Kantakouzinos’ desertion⁶⁸.

Em. Xanthos’ opinion about the running away of G. Kantakouzinos cannot be accepted, if one takes in to consideration that G. Kantakouzinos, not only abandoned his fellow-revolutionaries, but also appropriated, in all probabilities, a great sum of the money he had received just a few days before his desertion.

Finally, in connection with the battle of Skuleni (17 of June 1821), Em. Xanthos does not give us morę information than the number of the revolutionaries participating in the battle (about 600 men) and the number of the dead (about 250)⁶⁹, because he ordered D. Mousos, the bearer of the letter in question, to make an orał description of the events to the rcceiver of the letter ⁷⁰. So, we cannot get morę information to complete the already known data about the battle of Skuleni.

“ Ibidem, pp. 48 and 184. •* Ibidem, p. 48. ⁿ Manutcripl, p. 9.

^M Ibidem, pp. 10 and 12. •* Ibidem, pp. 10—11. ⁿ Ibidem, p. 11.