the government, whose repressive measures only alienated the burghers and peasantry further. By this time, the city of Corfu was virtually under siege by the rural population, which ransacked the nobility's country estates. While the Senate became increasingly powerless, power increasingly shifted to a group of burghers (Spyridon Delviniotis, Karolos Manesis, and Alexandros Avgoustos Kogevinas) who maintained contacts with the peasantry. To counter the restiveness of the populace, and the increasing demands for civic rights, the Senate gave Theotokis dictatorial powers. Theotokis formed an "Extraordinary Committee of Public Safety" (Commissione Estraordinaria di Pubblica Sicurezza) composed of Dimitrios Armenos, Stamos Chalikiopoulos, and Ioannis Kapadokas, but the rebellious lower classes refused to accept its authority. Instead the burghers and peasants elected their own delegates, resulting in the formation of a body of 64 men, the "Honourable Deputation of the City, Boroughs, and Villages of Corfu" (Onoranda Deputazione della città, borghi e ville di Corfù), which declared the 1800 constitution as void, and began drafting a new, more democratic constitution. The constitution proposed by the "Honourable Deputation" vested sovereign power in Corfu in a 240-member council of "Best Ones", elected for life in general, albeit indirect, suffrage. 100 members would come from the city, with 40 noblemen, 40 burghers, 14 merchants, and 6 artisans; the rest of the members would come from the countryside. Executive power was vested in a committee of four Procuratori, who were elected from among the "Best Ones" and chaired its proceedings. The council decided on all matters, and also elected the three representatives of the island to the Ionian Senate, which was intended to retain its original functions. The definition of "nobility", and with it suffrage, was broadened to all those who had an income of 1,000 thalers, regardless of residence or profession. Events proceeded quickly: the draft constitution was sent to the Senate on 21 October 1801, and ten days later, the "Honourable Deputation" demanded from Theotokis to appoint representatives of the nobility to form a common provisional government for Corfu. In a highly symbolic display of unity and class reconciliation, on 28 November the "Honourable Deputation" joined with 14 representatives of the "so-called nobility", as they were termed, to take over power; on the next day, the nobles signed the new constitution. Foreign intervention and the oligarchic constitution of 1803 The new regime of Corfu was not welcome to the Allied powers of the Second Coalition,