Star. — London, England, 1822-05-15 00:00:00

h ee ls. That act was this t —.By the seventh chap ter of the Constitution, all corporate bodies, and all individuals, were allowed to petition the protecting, hint as to the existence of any grievance. Taking advantage of this privilege the inhabitants of Santa )latia met in order to state their grievances, and a petition, addressed to the King through the Secretary ef State, signed by thirty-two of the most respectable' inhabitants, with Dr. Rossi at their head, was agreed vron. Whether the petition was ever forwarded or, no t, he (Mr. Hume) would not now say ; but, hoer.' ever, the consequence was, that in defiance of the Con :titution, all the persons who had signed the petition were ailesled, for having signed what the Senate ter med, " a rebellious" petition. Dr. Rossi being a Senator, had some intimation of what was intended, and he alone escaped to Venice. He (Mr. Hume) in tended to lay before the House a copy of this petition, that they might see how far the Senate was warranted in calling it rebellious. Having stated these facts, it. only reiriained for him to say a word for himself. It / night be said that the materials were defective, or that the facts were not correct ; but it was natural they slieuld be so. There was no coming at any in formation from the lonian Islands, and, in candour, Government ought not to upbraid him (Mr. Hume) with not possessing that information which they, by their measures and unnecessary precautions, rendered impossible—(Hear, hear). Dr. Rossi came from Ve nice to this country to state his own and his coun trymen's grievances ; but how was he received ? Alter addressing a Memorial to the Colonial Office, in which he offered to verify every statement therein made, he received a letter on the 17th of July, in an swer, in which it was said that the whole matter had been referred to Sir Thomas Maitland—to hisenemy ; to the very man who oppressed him !—(Hear, hear). Ika the case of the Petitioners did not stop here; for some others of the inhabitants, feeling the hardship and injustice of the conduct shewn towards Dr. Rossi and the others, met together, and, to the number of fifty, signed a similar Petition. A similar fate awaited them —they were either put under arrest, or obliged, for their safety, to exile themselves to Venice, or wherever they could find shelter. Rossi also re turned thither, feeling that he could find neither re ess for his own wrongs, nor justice for his coun trymen from that Court which used to be the protec tor of the oppressed—the Court of Great Britain Wear, hear).—Under such circumstances, was it to be wondered that he addressed his countrymen in the Luigi:age of wild despair ; that he told them that there was no redress for their wrongs but in the sword? He was warranted in saying there was no hope of redress from the Court of Great Britain. But after these experiments, what was the state in which the lonian Islands now were?—" Peace and tran quillity," said the Lord High Commissioner in his speech to the Senate. If it was peace, it was that peace which Burke said arose from a depopulated country—that stillness of death, where there was no living being to trespass upon it. The worst act of all had been to disarm these islanders, because it was an insult upon them. Amongst the lonians every man goes armed but a slave, and to be without arms is a badge of slavery. Sir Thomas Maitland, then, took the most direct method of driving them into insur rection, when by Proclamation he deprived them of their arms, and then placed the country under mar tial law. And then the direct countenance given to the Turks, was another means of making the inhabi tants of the lonian Islands disaffected to the English Government. The Noble Lord said, that it was the interest of this country to maintain a strict nentrality,, and in this he (Mr. Hume) entirely agreed with him. Indeed, he thought that great part of the evils of this country arose from our interfering too much in the affairs of the Continent. But in the case of the Turks and Greeks, he contended this neutrality was vio lated by a direct support given to the cause of the former. The Hon. Member then proceeded to state particular occasions in which this partiality was ex pressed in a manner which left it no longer doubtful to which side this country leaned. He then ad verted to the speech delivered by the Lord High Commissioner to the Legislative Assembly, which appeared to him to be a tissue of contradictions. — It was industriously circulated through this coun try, and from its whole tenour, it was clear that it was intended less for the ear of the Assembly, than for the eyes of the people of Great Britain. One cir cumstance made this plain. Santa Maura is sepa rated from the Continent by a narrow strait. This the Lord High Commissioner stated in his speech ; but what occasion had he to tell the people of Santa Maura of the peculiar locality of their Island? It was clear, therefore, that he was addressing himself to the people of England. Sir Thomas Maitland issued a Proclamation, prohibiting the people of Santa Maura from leaving the Island clandestinely, in order to join their brethren, the Greeks, who were in arms. But in his speech to the Senate he assigned as a rea son for martial law, that the people left the Island armed, in clan:, in the noon day. Such were the in consistencies and caprices of his conduct. Some merchants of this country had sent powder and am munition to the lonian Isles, but Sir Thomas Mait land had issued a Proclamation prohibiting any of that ammunition to be carried to either the Greeks or Turks. The latter had never got any from the lonian Isles, but the Greeks did, and therefore it was against those latter the Proclamation was levelled.— The conduct of the High Commissioner towards the Creek Clergy was without example; because the Bi shops had agreed prayers should be offered up for the success of their brethren in Greece, he had them de ported to another island. Was it too much,when prayers were offered up in Protestant Churches for the suc cess of the Greeks against the Turks, that the Greek Church should do the same for their brethren is arms ? The High Commissioner, however, deemed it abhor rent to his nature that prayers should be offered up for those fighting against the Turks, forbade it by prci clamation, and had the Bishops punished. That con duct was unbecoming the High Commissioner, and it was the duty of Government to institute an inquiry into the business. He was, however, satisfied that inquiry would be in vain, unless his recal was moved for at the same time. Until that was done, no one in the lonian Islands would dare to open his mouth against him. If an inquiry had been instituted on his 'notion last Session, much of the evil which since oc curred ould have been prevented. He had only to add, that it he expressed his feelings strongly on that subject, it was without intending offence to any iudi- • • • Tbo i tri e t t eilloic concluded 6y melee che folloifiug • t . . " 1 . =4,4llPeemsents on the table of this House, Nat die kolas wile. by a treaty signed at Paris on the Sth Notentber, 1 81$ h h edb ehliels the Courts of Vienna, St. Peters.; burgh, Laden, and declared 'to be a single, free, and in• dependentSeate:and were ;laced under the inimediate and =du des proteedes of the I= e reat Britain; and that, by Att.' of the said Treaty, I Hi s Majesty consents that a parden larConandon with theGensionsent of chi NM united Stagg sisdl settle, according to the State Revennes, all Matters relative to the maintenance of the fortresses now existing, as well as to the support and payment oldie British garrisons, and to the mamba of men who are to compose them in time of peace. The said Cod vendon shall also establish the relations which are to take lace between the armed force and the lonian Government.' That by Ankle 12, of the 2d section of the 7th chapter of the Con stitutional Charter of the united States of the lonian Islands, agreed to by the Legislative Assembly on the 841 of May, 1817, and auctioned brtii Majesty the King of Great Britain, it is settled, that all expense of quartering the regular troops of Ms Majesty,' the protecting Sovereign, and, generally speaking, all military expense of every kind so be incurred by the States (as far as relates to the three thousand men shove named), shall be paid out of the general treasury of the same.' " 2d. That it appears by Returns on the• table of this House (vide Parliamentary Paper, No: 87, of 1820), that the expendi ture of Great Britain for the military establishments in the lonian Islands, amounted to the sum of £145,023 in the year 1817. and to £120,045 in 1818, exclusive of the expense for trans ports, relief of troops, passage money, and other charges which have not been laid before the House. "3d. That it is expedient, in the present state of the finances of the United Kingdom, that the military expense incurred for the lonian Islands shall be paid from the revenues of those Islands, and regulated agreeably to the stipulations of the Treaty of Paris, sth November, 1815, and the Convention of the united lonian States, agreed to on the 241 May, 1817, and sanctioned by his Majesty. "4th. 'That an humble Address be presented to his Majesty, that he would be graciously pleased to direct an inquiry into the state of the Government of the lonian Islands, the causes of the general disaffection, and of the numerous arrests and baniihments which have taken place there ; and for w►at reasons the inhabit ants were disarmed, and martial law proclaimed." Mr. WILMOT said he had listened with great at tention to the Honourable Member, and he could as sure the House, that until the last twenty minutes the speech of the Hon. Member was nearly verbatim the same speech which he had delivered on this subject in the last Session. As the proposition made by the Hon. Member last year had been negatived by a ma jority of 97 to 20, he felt it unnecessary to enter at any great length into the consideration of arguments which had been so satisfactorily answered—Wear! from the Opposition Benches).—He had on a former occasion stated that he differed from the Hon. Mem- ber in the construction which he put on an article in the Treaty of Paris. One of the Hon. Member's Re solutions declared, that by the existing Convention the lonian iovernment was called upon to pay the whole expenses of the British troops. He contended that spirit of the 's :lick had bees perfectly fol lowc.., .ad that the isla -.l::rs had supported the mili tary establishment in proportion to the means which they possessed. The Hon. Member complained that some returns had not been made, which would have made his motion more perfect tbut as the expenses incurred by the British Government were confined to the military establishment, and every part of the civil expenses was defrayed by the lonian Islands, the pa pers which had been withheld could not have af forded him much additional information. The maxi mum of the garrison had been fixed by the terms of the Convention at three thousand men ; and it was stipulated in the twelfth Article that the expenses should be paid out of the general treasury. The spirit of the Convention had been complied with, and it was a mere questioa of fact, whether the lonians had contributed a fair proportion, according to their competency, towards the support of the garrison ? The Hon. Member had adverted to the progressive transfer of these islands from one Government to an other; but he surely could not venture to assert that they possessed a greater share of practical liberty under the Venetian Government than they enjoyed at present. Nor did they enjoy a greater degree of liberty under the French dominion, or when they be came a Septinsular Republic under the guarantee of Russia. The Russian Authorities expressly declared, that a free Constitution was totally unfit for so tur bulent and discontented a people. When these islands came under the protection of the British Government in 1806, Sir-Thomas Maitland found that nothing but the mere forms of a free Constitution had been left them by the French Government. There was no foundation, therefore, for the assertion that they en joyed less liberty than they did formerly ; on the con trary, their freedom and general prosperity had in creased. since they came under the protection of the British Government. With regard to the expense of the civil government of the islands, he would chal-: lenge the Honourable Member to prove that a single additional tax bad been imposed by this Government, except the tax on the exportation of oil, and that was a commutation for eleven other taxes, infinitely more grievous and oppressive, which had been remitted.— The Hon. Member had stated, that the expenses of the Civil Government amounted to 98,000 dollars in 1815, and to 221,000 dollars in 1819, without calcu lating for the difference of 117 per cent. the profit obtained by the class of persons who farmed the Re- 1 venue in the former period, which would make the total of the first sum 218,000 dollars, and only 12,000 dollars less than the amount in 1819. The discontent which had been stated to prevail universally among the inhabitants, was, in fact, confined to a particular class. The Hon. Member had accused the High Com missioner of inveighing against the principle of per forming duties without salaries. He (Mr. Wilmot) could not help thinking that the system - of granting salaries for services performed, was more likely to benefit the character and conduct of the Government, , than that of leaving the remuneration of public ser vants to uncertain contingencies. The Hon. Member had said, that the Constitutional Charter had been surreptitiously got up, and that the people had no participation in it. The Constitutional Charter of France, which was considered the polar star of the liberties of that country, was an analogous case. Did the Hon. Member suppose that that Charter had in the first instance obtained the universal consent of t h e people? The Charter of the lonian Islands had been prepared with deliberate attention to die circum stances of the people, and gave them a reasonable share of practical freedom ; though it certainly did not extend to them as much liberty as was enjoyed by the people of this country. He did not mean to say, that such a degree of liberty might not here after be conceded, but the people were at present unfit for it. There was no pretence for asserting that the Constitutional Charter had been surreptitiously got up, for it had been laid upon the table of that - House, and no objection bad been made to it.-- 1., _s. , `rif ' A °nig Isitiweitasch spbn the Mt,. va~attt• - of aduletian which , bad been paid to the Ault tt!'' and g other instances of this Mai • entertained the use with an ai cottnt of stem dr bust of Sir Thomas Maitlablg executed by Camas Now, in point of fact, no static had been erected in honour of the High Commis sioner, nor had any bust been executed - by Canova. There was as little ground for asserting that the orders of St. Michael and St. John had been improperly din. tributed. With regard to the mode of election, k ' had never been more pure than it was at the present period; and the double list was so grateful to the people, that they had actually. presented,an Addiess of Thanks to the Russian Government for its intro duction. Under the Russian Government, the votes were given by ballot, and afterwards privately cast up by the Government Officers; whereas they were now cut up in the presence of the people. The next question to which he would advert was that of the Church Establishment ; and respecting it be would say, that notwithstanding the complaints that had been made, and the clamours that had been raised, that establishment had been received by the people as a boon and a blessing. The peasantry had shewn every disposition to have it enforced. With regard to the case of Alessandro Battalia, be must say, that if there was, on the part of any one in this country, a dis position to think that his case was a harsh one, he (Mr. Wilmot) could assure the House, that there was no such feeling misting now on the part of Battalia himself.— The HIM Member, after apologizing to the I-louse for going into details, proceeded to read extracts of a letter from Battalia to Sir T. Maitland, dated from Corfu, March 23. In this letter the writer stated, that he received the directions of Sir T. Maitland with gratitude, that he felt esteem and gratitude for Sir Thomas ; that, at the moment of writing, he felt that delightful feeling in its fullest extent; and that he wished for long life and happiness to Sir Thomas —(A laugh).—He (Mr.Wilmot) did not understand the meaning of that laugh. He felt confident that he had met the case in question with a satisfactory answer, and he called for other instances, otherwise he felt bound to deny and repel the charge of cruel usage which had been attempted to be made out.— The fact was, therefore, that the land, though for 100 years in the hands of the private proprietors, had been originally taken from the church, and the whole of the act complained against was merely the reserv ing of this, from the bands of the private proprietors, for the church. In the course of this business it had been thought most advisable to refer it to the Lord Commissioner, who had acted in what appeared to be the most proper manner, notwithstanding the unjust colouring which it had been attempted to give to the measure. He could say, however, that it had not proved unsatisfactory to the majority of the islanders themselves. He was aware that the office of Lord Commissioner had been verymnch attacked, on the ground of some transactions connected with the gene , ral police of the Islands. The Lord Commissioner had, as chief of Police, the power of summary trial in cases of treason, but he assigned them over to the proper tri bunals. The Hon. Member bad alluded to the petition of Flamburiari and Rossi, but hehad not read the whole of that petition ; and he (Mr. Wilmot) would say that the petition was illegal, in as far as it had not been sent to the Lord Commissioner[Mr. Hume asked whether the Hon. Gentleman had read the petition ? and upon receiving an answer in the affirmative, he handed the petition to Mr. Wilmot]. Mr. Wilmot would allude to such passages of the petition, as were necessary for his purpose, without the formal reading of the petition. He would say, that that petition was disgraceful, inasmuch as it imputed to the Govern ment the intention of imposing a despotism upon the Islands. It was disrespectful to the Lord Commis sioner, it was disrespectful to the Governnient to say that they would be parties to the enslaving of the country. The petition was not to be sent to the King, it was not to be sent to the Lord Commissioner, it had been prepared for another and a very different purpose. The object and tendency of it were treasonable. He was sure that the petition—that, at any rate, the case upon which that petition prztended to be founded, did not bear out what the Hon. Member had alleged. It proceeded upon an attempt to establish an analogy between this country and that ; but for this there was no foundation, and there was no ground for connect ing it with an attack upon the character of Sir Tho mas Maitland. The Hon. Member had alluded to what had taken place in these Islands during the time which had elapsed since he last brought forward his motion. There were two circumstances of which the Honourable Member had complained—lthe establish ment of martial law, and the disarming of the people. With regard to the first, he would tell the Hon. Mem ber that martial law had been the general plan in those Islands previous to the Administration of Sir Thomas Maitland. With regard to the disarming, he would ask why, if the people of the Islands were hostile to that measure, they could have been dis armed by fifty men, and that, too, without any re sistance. Under the martial law no punishment bad taken place, except one whipping, and that but to the extent f fifty lashes. The disarming, too, be came necessary, because the islanders, instead of pre serving that neutrality which had been wished, had gone over by thousands to join the Greeks against the Turks. The charge against Mr. P. Green, the British Consul at Patras, had not been substantiated by any collateral circumstances, and it was repelled by an extract which he would read front the Motu tear. With respect to the transaction at Zante, in which it had been said that the troops had fired upon a Greek vessel, which stranded. Now he could assure the House, that the troops, even after having re ceived very improper usage, bad fired; but not at the people ; and that their fire had been met by a discharge of fire-arms, by which some of the soldiers had been hurt. They ought to -consider the state of. feeling in those countries; they ought to see that strong measures were necessary ; and if they com plained of the disarming of the peasantry, they ought to reflect that it had been followed by the more effi cient protection of the military. He was not surprised at the sympathy which existed for the Greeks. No MR who had proper feelings' of liberty could• re frain from wishing uhimate success to the Greeks against the Turks--(flear, from the Oppotition).— Nothing had tended so much to diminish, to lower, and to dilate that feeling, as the atrocities which ha . ' been committed by the Greeks; and when these were considered, it was not to be wondered , at, althoUgh the the Lord Commissionei diould disavow m. • 'One A , • • suffered at Cerigo; bet these men had confessed their guilt : they had been connected with a banditti. That the islands were flourishing under Sir Thomas Mait land, was quite obvious; And they would soon be in a condition for reCeivinga greater accession of liberty. The Hon. Member had to complain that in one quar ter—he meant the public press--(fiear ' her/ frogs Me Ministerial 4enshn)--there b a d b een the disposition to prejudge this question. Piom the month of January, down to to recent a period as peso terday, their columns hadnoesned with deliberate falsities and calumnious mistatentents. to onething he-would allude : it had been alleged thoth e o fttne , menr could take posseselie of any titan's property. Now the fact was, that mieely an ad na/oreis die had been imposed in those islands, the same as fa gad land and America.: by this duty the offi:ers had d. power of detaining goods apsuciespicion of &mode lent entry, provided they paid £ll5 for each £lOO entei ed. With regard again to the monopoly of grain on the part of Government, that mondpoiy had been suspended ; and the price at Corfu had been below Cephalonia, and below Zante. He thought the con duct of Sir Thomas Maitland could not be placed its a more favourable light, his neutrality could not be more clearly shewn, than by the circumstance that both parties complained of him. The Hon. Member then concluded with observing that the motion being %holly unnecessary, he should meet the two first ItcsAutions with the previous question, and the two last with a direct negative. Mr. WILLIAMS considered the present question as most important—important as it affected.the pro sperity of the Islands, but more impoitant as it in volved the national honour. "There was some incon- sistency in the argument of the Hon. Under-Secre tary. He had charged his Hnn. Friend (Mr. Hume) with having traversed-a• beaten track—with having furnished no new ground for his motion ; and yet the Hon. Gentleman in the conclusion of his speech had, strange to say, expatiated on the predicament in which he'was placed by - being brought to the discus sion of the subject by surprise. In what manner were these contradictory declarations to be reconciled? But though the Hon. Gentleman, in a speech of no short duration, *expatiated on many subjects rather inapplicable to the - question, he left the main body of the subject wholly unanswered. Neither on the gross amount of the expenditure incurred in the lonian Islands, nor on the details of : tile Civil Government, the Staff, ate. has the Hon. Gentleman condescended to give anything in the shape of an answer. The question, then, of expenditure, remained, as stated by his Honourable Friend, untouched and unshaken.— The Hon. Gentleman had, indeed, given an interpre tation to the Charter which . its provisions would not bear. These provisions particularly specified that the whole military expenditure of these Islands should be borne by:the insular treasury, to the amount of 5000 men; but that the Commander-in-Chief was, on the existence of a competent necessity, authorised to increase the amount of military force. That arrange ment was, however, followed up by another provi sion, which specified that the whole military expense should be defrayed out of the general treasury of the Island. It was, then, upon the policy pursued at home, as well as in the Islands, that his Ho nourable Friend (Mr. Hume) rested his position.— lie (Mr. Williams) did not know the peculiar state of the religious impressions of the inhabitants of these Islands; but;constituted as human nature was, be must still believe that they must have contemplated with dismay an arrangement, which, if not shocking to their piety, was at least so to their prejudices, and in consequence of which the controul over their reli gion was transferred- to a military foreigner, who, however distinguished far feats of arms, had at least acquired no honours in the science of divinity— (Hear, and a laugh).—But the Hon. Gentleman taunt ingly has asked, where were the proofs of discontent and disaffection in these Islands? Where,were the remonstrances ? He knurl well that on the very cha-* racier of the oppression practised these rested. There were no remonstrances—there were no fresh com plaints, because none dare to complain—(Hear, hear). —Even that consolation to misfortune was denied. Hete was a gratuitous assumption to solve the diffi culty, the very assumption constituting, as it did, the ground of complaint. Instead of meeting the charge with a refutation, or, if undeniable, with a candid ad mission, the whole of the answer of the Hon. Gentle. man (Mr.Wilmot) was a petitio principii from begin ning to end. But when 'the Hon. Gent. asks what new measures had arisen, what- peculiar exigenCy now called for discussiondie (Mr.W.) would answer, many. The Hon. Gentleman has said, that until the golden era of the arrival of the gallant British General, the Greeks of these 'Lands, notwithstanding their name anctparentage, Were wholly incapable of enjoying ra tional liberty, they were, forsooth, so used to mili tary law, that military law was no grievance—they ~might be skinned, because they had been skinned so frequently before Martia l law had no horrors—it was exercised in a most soiciant manner, as only fifty lashes were inflicted. But the Ho-. - nouftble Member held forth a speedy. relief. There was now a chalice of that boon of British Protection to the lonians, namely, the expectancy of reversionary freedont—(Hear, hear). Martial law would oease—why was it ever inflicted? It was inflicted because the lonians, recollecting the country from which they sprung, and the people with whom they were allied, had felt an interest in that glorious struggle which their brethren were supporting against their Infidel oppressor. It was the unwelcome, the reluctant duty of the gallant Englishmen who garrisoned those Islands, to be the jailers of those freemen—freemen he could not call them, but men struggling to be free. Was that no novel effect since the last discussiou? Was it no matter of com plaint, that England was inflicting martial law on her lonian pro tegees, because those protegees naturally connected themselves with the struggles of their Christian countrymen, against the Turks, the infidels of Europe? Was such a policy no new ground for renewing discussion, and repeating our regrets at the lament able change in our character? Pudet hzc opprobrla noble, Aut diet potuisse, ant non potuisse relent!" Who would have supposed, front our ancient history, that the freemen of England were destined for the avocation of repressing the liberties of struggling nations? The Honourable Member concluded amidst loud cheers. Tbe House then divided— For Mr. Hume's motion . - 6 . } • Against it - MOP Majority - --SS land LONDONDERRY breugla in the Foreign Corn =IEI4 which was scud th e first Aisne, and ordered to be second time that day sennight. Wier Orders df the Day •wetv then disposed of, and the I Min* adjourped as *even &Clods. AceOidittg to> I paper printed by ntder of the Howe of Conch:ions t he- Amount of Bant Notes and Post Bilbi iniciecuiation, on the 7th o[ May, is 17,796,6701. ji t s zoos under 51.•Arelauw reduced to .1,089,7801. -1 • I 1 I ! ,~ n 011 I I!