The National Register. — London, England, 1822-07-01 00:00:00

e. it ~...bri , P - - I 4 il l ' . 9' . A Ito nia . 1 , tc .4," • all ^_` ~~. ~ d Our Iltns, Conatitution, anti RatuO. No. 1,376 —VoL. XV.] MASSACRE OF THE GREEKS AT CONSTANTI NOPLE AND SCIO: The following affecting appeal from the Greeks at Constantinople to their brethren and countrymen here, was received by the last mail from Turkey. " Constantinople, May 25, 1822. ‘. Dear and beloved Brethren and Countrymen,—We doubt not that the news contained herein must have already reached you, and fallen like a thunder-bolt on your hearts. What more dreadful than the knowledge that our illustrious and innocent countrymen—ten of them in prison here, and those in the castle of Scio, 9th in all—universally esteemed and respected, chosen and held as hostages for more than a year past, have at last, without a single motive, without even the shadow of &personal accusation against them, been barbarously executed ? We at first t.eeply lamented the unmerited restraint put upon the per sons of those now no more ; their death, ignominious and cruel, in the first burst of grief nearly paralysed our faculties ; but these we look upon now as enjoying eternal and immutable felicity ; our pity is no longer their due, but it Bows for those unfortunates who have survived, and who henceforth are doomed to tyranny unexampled in history, and privations of every kind. Who can, without shuddering, read of the total ruin, the uni versal desolation of our farmed and once happy isle (Scio) ; the destruction of all its inhabit/ its, nearly one hundred thousand, who, except a very few who almost miraculously escaped from those ill-fated shores, have fatten victims to the sword, to fire, to hunger, and slavery—the worst of all evils ? Who can, without feelings of indignation, without execrating the perpe trators of' these horrid acts, behold a whole city lately so flourishing, now one heap of ruins ; whole villages, innumera ble country seats, a prey to the flames, our celebrated school, library, hospital for the sick, hundreds of churches richly adorned—all, all one confused mass of smeakiug rubbish ! Our island lately so much frequented by Enropeans, and more especially by English families of the first rank, will now have only her ashes to show the passing stranger. Nor is this so dreadful in itself, the most dire of our calamities. The slavery of so many respectable women, young people, and children of bath sexes, stet elf to dillereut parts or Asia—the inarlirts of this city and Smyrna filled with women and young people of the first rank, and who have received the best education ! What can be more dreadful than this! Happy, thrice happy those whom the steel of the assassin has snatched from scenes so harrowing to the feelings; how miserable those still sulfered to exist, who see the surfeiting., hear the cries, and piteous accents of their wives, children, and relatives, and ma wit nesses to the barbarous treatment this devoted and innocent people receive from the wretches who have them in their power. 1% hat moo be Lid to tour charge? We pour &iota, who, froom the beginning, have remained faithful, are rewarded with death and slavery. It is n al known, as soon as the Porte heard of thy iusurrection in the Morea, and sundry islands of the Archi -4 pelage, it sent here a Paella having v. ith him about a three theusand troops ; the whole of the expenses of this garrison • was defrayed by our island, aliklt, in the course of about 11 mouths, paid more than 2,700,0ted piasters, each according to his mesas. Besides that, the Sultan ordered a choice to he made o. sixty of the most censiderahle and respectable from our countrymen, beo:itining by our Archbishop Plato, the elder, and other principal inhabitanta. When the news of the iuva *ion of the imprudent Samiotes first spread in Scio, the princi pal inhabittuots waived 011 the Pacha to apprise him of it. What was his answer ?—to send into the castle, us hostages, some more of these nouocent men, and to transport all the provisions out of the city into the citadel, not leaving soy whatever for the pour inhabitants of the city, aho were so numerous. A month afterwards, when the Samiotes landed, the Pacha seat SOW. of the hostages, with severe' 1 urks, to prevail on the Su mimes to evacuate the island ; but t 11.4 imprudently resolved to advance, sad told these ministers of lovace *lout they would botillor put them to death lima du an The Paclia then shut barnacle up iu the castle with all tire military, taking with him all the hostages. It was imolerstonal that a great number of the peasantry had joined the S.eutiotes ; they were io a wanner forced to it, being apprehensive of tin: Samiotes themselves, sad they were only erased with sticks and stat es. Elev ea days after, the Turkish fleet arrived at the island, soul lauded I,doll soldiers, who joined by the 3,000 in the castle, being unable to attack and defeat the 3,000 &mimes, used their weapons vgainst the innocent and disarmed inhabitants, and turned Iheir fury against women and (!loihlren, kiliisg, burning, end taking in slavery all the inhabitants of the place ; the men they cruelly slaughtered, the *mama and children they brutally treated and huddled together in one of the large sopoares, which contained several hundred of the most resokoduole families ; they have not left a *tome upon a atone—all destroyed, all ruined ! It would hill YOllllllOOl ill record the (Efferent scenes of honor that the ruffians were guilty of—humanity shudders at it. But this universal desolation had not yet satisfied the blood-thirsty fol lowers of itlahaulined ; they bad heaped woe their treaibliiig and tender victims all the bitterness of their fanaticism—tea tavi, the first oh their nation, both as to character and property —men who hail always followed the paths of rectitude in their commercial dealings —whose relations were established in almost every known commercial city in the known world— men innocent of any machinations against the Turkish govern ment, and who could not, if even they would, have been par tieipators bi the rising of the island, since they had been 1.1 months under the grasp of the Turkish satrap. Ten of three were at Cuustantiutiple, the remainder at Seio. Lord Strang' ford made strenuous elfin ts to save them—neglected no re sulonst rueces laced the greatest ardour iu the cause of suf fering ionoucence, and thought Inc had succeeded in slielieriug then' from Coeir , inapendiii4 fate,loaving obtained a promise from the Porte that no harts' should be dune them, when if soooldeicy gave orders for their cannons. The ten in Cuuatentieupie MONDAY, JULY 1, 1822. were beheaded, and the 85 in Soio were hang outside of the castle, in that very square where so many of the slaves were placed, in sight of the Turkish fleet, who had their decks covered with Greek slaves. Oh' how tire heart sickens at such refinement of cruelty, and turns with horror from the malice that could take delight in deridive the mental agosy of the innocent sufferers in this tragical scene ! What a member of wives were forced In be spectators of the creel death of the husbands of their affect• —to see at the same time their suckling babes, torn from their breasts, thus at once bereft of their support arid their hopes ! Many driven to despair by this barbarous usage threw themselves into the see, others :dabbed themselves to present the loss of honour, in them worse than death, to which they were every moment exposed from the barbarians : hut, alas ; let as draw a veil upon those who have thus sunk untimely into the grave ; let us not barrow up your souls with the recital of their atrocities ; their s.itjeiiogs are over, and their felicity, let us !lupe begun ! It is how time to turn your sympathy towards the unfortunate survivors of the general wreck—to call, dear countrymen, your attention to the miserable naked state of thousands of our Sciots, with which tlr markets here, at Smyrna, and Scio, are glutted. You, brothers, friends and countrymen, are iu the capital of England, the centre of philosophy ,• you live amongst a people always famed for their generous feeling , ' towards the unfortunate, for their dislike to tyranny, auil their support of the oppre: , sed. Beg, pray, entreat, appeal, to their liftlinas, call upon them as Britons, as men, rts fellow beings : it is in the cause of hu manity and of reli,;ien they cannot, will nut be deaf to your prayers. They will afford es, as far as lies in their power, the locoed of redeeming the captive, of Aiding those families sit* are in a state of nudity and starvation, who will soon orris e in almost every part of the hiediterranean, when they have been enabled to fly from a yoke worse thau death. We rely upon your endeavours, and still more open the high character it the nation among whom you inhabit : tlifinsands of hands are raised to you to chain your interference in behalf of your op pressed countrymen; thousands of hearts will feel grateful thr your assistance. Brethren and countrymen, exert yourselves in the cause of humanity. With tearful eye we cordially salute you, and beg you will prayto Cud for oar safety. " YOUR BROTBEIti AND-COUNTRYMEN." FRENCH AND GERMAN PAPERS. Perr.nsauncitr, MAY 31.—The Imperial Gun& have received orders to return to the capital. It appear,;, thcrefize, certain, that the.differences be tween our Court and the Porte are arranged, the Porte has yielded the two principal points of our Ultimatum; us to the others our Court has made some coins salon,. If war hail tacit place, the cam paign could not have been opened bcfbre the harvest, and it would have cost immense sums in a devastated country. SEMLIN, Justr. 3.-.-We have accounts front Pt toglit to the 23.1 of May, by the way of Belgrade.. Macedonia is still in cousternation, and disturbed. Considerable Ottoman forces are marching towards Larissa. The English agent, have succeeded, it is said, in inducing the Sulimes and the Albanians to submit to Choursehid Paella. The latter will en deavour to effect a junction with the Paella of Salo nica, and to penetrate with him by Livadia into the Mores. If miracles do not take place, the Greeks witl be overcame. It is also the case in the Marine, that English officers direct the operations of the Ottoman fleet. LEIPme, JUNE B.—Aecounta from Constantino ple, Vienna, and other places, continue to affirm • that peace will nut be interrupted, and yet calm and la:Hating men are not inclined to credit these re ports, which take the appearanco for the reality, and consider an arrangement with the Turks as easy a mutter as with a Christian Power. There are many persons, too, who cannot reconcile themselves to the idea, that a Holy Alliance, said to be established on the fundamental principles of Christianity, can abandan Christians to the fury of the Turks, as this would be wholly at variance with the first duties of the Christian religion. Since the fair, an almost incredible stagnation in trade has taken place. The prices of corn continue to fall, and though the pros peet of the next harvest is very good, this expecta tion may be disappointed. We have nut had a drop of rain for this finanight past, the sky has been con stantly, with east and north-e ist winds. The drought is very great, and tha suconce corn Legit:; to suffer by it. Even the winter corn on high gaudy ground begins to turn tvllite. The but wcuther bus also caused several eases of sudden death. PENA, MAY 6.—The Reis Effendi (Minister for Foreign Affairs) is always a Nltisselman; but this Minister too laut-L to chnvers..: tu a Euro pean language with the aaAlbu.ulurit of foreign p. w- PRICE 91d. ers, and it is for this reason that these ambassadors always treat with the chief dragoman of the Porte, who may be considered as the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Mr. Aristarchi, who, acting in this capwity, had constantly protracted the negocia tions, is a very able and subtle Greek; but it was hoped that means had been found to interest him personally in the success of the negociations. His dismissal, therefore, was received with regret, and great apprehension was entertained, when it was found that the new dragoman was a Greek renegade, who embraced Mahometi,in SO years ago. The first time that the European dragomans eon. rented with him, he said, " that the affairs of the Franks, when treated by a Mussulman, would go on much better than by the intervention of a Greek." A few days after, Jahia (this is his name) declared to the dragoman of Lord Strangford, that he was charged by the Reis Effendi to open himself without reserve to the English legation, and to make known the final resolution of the Porte. The Grand Seignor said he was not desirous of war either with the Muscovites or with any other powers of the Wtzt, though the Sublime Porte does not fear any we:, and with the aid of the great Prophet, the Mussui man arms would always triumph in the cud. The Porte will therefore do any thing requisite to avoid a rupture. The good friend of the Porte, the Eng lish ambassador, has asked of the Reis Effendi an answer to his representations; the minister has asked the orders of the Grand Vizir, and then: can Le nu doubt that this ansiver is calculated to satisfy the good friends of the Porte. On the ViLli of April this answer of the Reis Effoldi was delivered to the ambussadors of Great Britain and Austria; its contents, however, were not so satisfl.ctory as had been represented. The dragoman of Lord Strangfard bud then another conference of JuLia, who, with great frankness, gave all the explanations that were required of him. It is since this that it is hoped a new Russian legation wig soon erriva at Constantieople. Bitany (Gat-tacit), JUNE 5 —The last direct accounts front Jassy announce a new organization of the province of Moldavia, civil and military, which was shortly to arrive front Constantinople, and to be introduced into Wallachia as well as Moldavia, by special delegates from the Porte. The supetior au thority, it is said, will be exercised in each province by a Governor, who is not, however, to make any arrangement of importance without consulting a council. Under this arrangement, Moldavia and ‘Vallachiu would have nothing to complain of; but, unfortunately, there is another arrangement which will probably be a source of much unhappiness to the inhabitants, anti will paralyse all the ,frood to be duce by the administration. Theme is to Le in each province a corps of Janissaries, commanded by an Aga, who will, it is true, reeciva his orders from the Govern:tient, but who will be at the same time sub . ordinate to the superior chictii of the Janissaries, at Constantinople. Under these circumstances, the two Agas will, in reality, govern the two principa lities, iu the name of the Governors, as the A ir ., will dispose of all the forces, and the Goveraors will hove no direct influence over the troops. It appears, however, that there are sail obstacles to this arrange ment. No change has yet taken place in the situ ation of the two principalities, and it is certain that the departure of the Turkish troops is indefinitely adjourned. Tu all appearance the Porte will issue no definitive orders upon this subject. Extract of u letter, dated Mexico, Feb. 28:— •' The Congress mei three days since, and all the represen'a— tiro: have swu n to observe the t 'amiss entered into by t;entral Iturbide about a }tar since. They have decided that the future Government of nits country shall be a limited monarchy, arid a deputation is immediately to he sent to Europe with an offer of the Imperial Crown to a Bourboo, either to the limg of Spain, oue ot• his brothers, or to the l'imze of Lucca; and in case of a 'aloha on the pan of these individuals to accept the totter, it is then to be Mate to a member ut the house ut Austria. Hut should they all refuse to accede to the proposition, and none of dam arrive in tins country w•tliiii ucertain too.•r::el to be herealter dsoitil, the Cougreas in the House of ffepre-entativis will then .• exct a native, who is to he declared Emperor of Mexico. 'foe measures of Con gre:s, hitherto savour of great intoiriance iu religious ammoe. N ne hut the latliclic Lligiou is to be tote. sated, and in this particular the Gotemincnt will be well sup. ru..al by the populstici of this country, in which bigot:y tan.a.ci is.T.hihsi iu.o so duw,l W any tidier contauv,tiry •.1 the lac.: at two aids..." .~# ~ Y.-'