Senate took their oaths on it. With Theotokis having died on 24 November, a new president of the Senate and head of state of the Republic was elected: Antonios Komoutos from Zakynthos. The following period saw a flurry of legislative and administrative activity: between January and March 1804, laws concerning local administration, shipping, rural communes, and education were passed, the ecclesiastical administration was reformed, and the ministries were established. The Republic now became truly a proper state, and aroused the expectations and hopes of the Greek intelligentsia: Adamantios Korais and Eugenios Voulgaris dedicated their works to the Republic. Nevertheless, due to the machinations of Mocenigo, the Russians never ratified the new constitution. Furthermore, as the Russian plenipotentiary, Mocenigo was the most influential person in the state, with a decisive voice in all matters, and soon began to undermine the constitution by creating extraordinary committees, bypassing the ordinary courts, and establishing a Sublime Police, staffed by his own nominees and controlled by him. Relations with Ali Pasha, the Souliots, and the creation of the Greek Legion Relations between the Republic and its neighbour Ali Pasha were tense and complicated. The Ionian Islands, and especially Lefkada, were a common refuge for klephts and brigands fleeing the Ottoman authorities of the Greek mainland. With the Islands as a secure base, they often launched raids on the Turkish-held shores. In turn, Ali Pasha harassed the Republic's citizens, and imposed heavy tolls on its vessels in the harbours he controlled. During this period, Ali Pasha in a series of campaigns suppressed the rebellious Souliots, who defied his authority. Advised by the turncoat Georgios Botsaris, Ali pursued a strategy of encircling the area of Souli with forts and besieging it. Already in 1800, the Souliots wrote to Theotokis for aid against the designs of Ali Pasha. The latter in turn threatened the inhabitants of Parga, to prevent them from lending any aid to the Souliots. By 1803, the position of the Souliots had grown dire, and they implored the Septinsular Republic for ammunition. A Souliot embassy visited Mocenigo, conveying an appeal to Tsar Alexander. Mocenigo gave them some ammunition, but secretly from the Russians; this and later requests for Russian mediation remained unanswered, even as Ali Pasha, with the Sultan's backing, moved to eradicate the last centres of Souliot resistance. The Souliots who managed to escape from Ali's forces made for Parga, but they were forced