The Express.
London, England, 1862-12-27 00:00:00

priaiibler
procialw

pancy between our practice and the which
we sincerely bold and constantly The
Greeks and lonians say that their welfare would
be promoted by the very course which our prin-
ciples dictate.

Yet at this point we are met by en objection
from a quarter whence we might least have ex-
potted it. When we were thinking of marl-
ficing somewhat of the sentiment of empire in
favour of higher principles which we believe are
bound up with the progress and happiness of the
world, it might have been expected that Russia,
which has always professed so much interest in
the Greeks, would have hailed the arrangement
with more than ordinary satisfaction. At present,
however, if we may judge from the language of
its press, Russia is the principal Power which
raises objections to our proposed action. La
France, indeed, which probably has means of
knowing, asserts that Rusiia is not alone ;1 t..king
this course, but that at !east two of the great
Powers oppose the cession of the lonian Islands to
Greece, and maintain that if the present Protec-
torate were to cease they would become a focus of
insurrection. However that may be, and which-
ever may be the two Powers referred to, and
whether Russia is one of them, or forms a third
objector, it is from St. Petersburg that we get
the first distinct expression of an adverse opinion.
It seems that although Russia loves Greece very
such, there is something—the principles of Trop-
pau, Laybach, and Verona—which she loves yet
more. Europe is to consider its honour and islet/
concerned in the violent repression and extino-
tion of every movement wl"ch originates in the
moral necessities o: peoples, and not in the Cabinets
of ambitious Kings. The Journal de St. Pehrsbourg
says that "if England is at liberty to renounce
" the Prot:ctoratx of the lonian Islands, it is for
" Europe to deter mine their destiny." The states-
men of the Russ'ln Empire know that that is a
doctrine which the English nation has strenuously
opposed. And we may take leave to inform them
that it is one which it will never accept. If we

renounce the lonian Islands we shall do so in
favour of a right better and stronger, and not
weaker and worse, than that by wh;ch we now hold
them. All the right in them which the consent of
Europe could confer we already have. We are
not too weak to retain them, or too poor to en-
counter the pecuniary sacrifices which possession of
them entails. But our treaty rights have not
proved a source of dignity to the rulers, nor of
coatentment to the goverred. Moreover, we have
embraced the conviction that no nation has so
good a right to govern another nation as every
nation has to govern itself. We can give the
lonians to no Congress, no Holy Alliance. We can
give them only to themrslves, and irlie“. union with
Greece will be in the fullest sense t'ieir own act.
There is no reason why justice should not
be done, in the transfer, to any European interests,
whether general or special, for which a clear and
defirite case can be made out. If there are such,
doubtless an opportunity will be offered for their
consideration. If it could be showy, for instance,
that the inhabitants of the Islands only desired
our absence in order to be at liberty to indulge in
piracy or the slave trade, or in other entsrprlsrs
inimical to peace and civilization, that would be a
good reason for keeping them under the guard of
a stronger Power. But the right which the
Journal de St. Petershourg seems to assert is the
abstract and original right of the Courts of Europe
to combine and hinder arrangements which have
fieir origin in popular wants, and which have the
sanction of popular principles. Enropi has ow,-
fered enough through the enforce•nent of a doc-
trine which has been rudely shaken by the events
of the last ten years, and which happily may now
be considered obsolete. We expect that the objec-
tion made by Russia will be allowed as much
weight as was allowed to our objection to the incor-
poration of Cracow. We have no desire to have a
Poland in the Mediterranean, in order to keep
Russia in countenance. And if France migEt
take Lombardy from Austria by force of arms, and
give it to Piedmont, receiving Savoy and Nioe in
re:aim, we may be permitted to give the lonians
to themselves without compensation, and even
" for an idea."

Loss OF MAIL PACKET COLOMBO.—An official an-
nouncement from the General Post-office states
that, besides the mails already received, one box of
letters from the Mauritius, six boxes of letters and
74 of newspapers from Australia, dame:,ed slightly,
and 275 boxes from India and Australia, much
damaged, saved from the wreck of the Colombo,
are now on their way to England, and may be ex-
pected at Southampton about the 29th or 30.1
instant, Further intelligence has been received
that 159 more boxes have been recovered, and
rent to Pont de Chile. They will be due in London
MA Marseilles on the 12th, and via Southynpto-i
on the 18th January.

ELECTION OF THE KING OF GREECE.

The voting of the Greek subjects in London for
the election of the King of Greece has terminated
th's day at the offices of the Consulate-General of

Greece:

One hundred and thirty-nine members of the
Greek community have registered their votes, all,
without exception, for Prince Alfred of England,
but of these 123 have voted without indicating
any alternative ; 6 have named " Pi:nce Wilhelm
of Denmark ;" 3, "A republican 'form of govern-
ment," and 1, " Joseph Garibaldi" as eligible in
the event of Prince Alfred not accepting the throne
of Greece.

Correct extract.
A. C. loranze, cheek Conattl-General
17, Gracechurch-street, London,
14 (26) Dec., 1862.

Last night's Gazette contains an official notifica-
tion that the Right Honourable Cornwallis Viscount
I Hawarden has been chosen, by a majority of votes, to be
the peer to .it in the House of Lords oft he United Kingdom,
in the room of the Right Honourable Arthur Viscount Duo.
giODOD, deceased.
RESIGNATION or MR. BALL, M.P.—ln another
column will be found a document, which to most of our
readers probably will come as a surprise. It is an address
from oar respected reyresertative, Mr. Ball, informing his
constituents that he has made up his mind to resign his
seat for the county ; and though he says nothing about the
time of his resignation, we conclude from the general tone
of his address that be intends, like Mr. Steuart. member
for the town, to take the steps necessary for such a pro-
ceediog immediately on the opening of the session, and
without taking the chance of a dissolution of parliament.
What steps will be taken to fill up the expected vacancy
we are not at present in a position to say. Until to-day
Mr. Ball's intention to resign has not been made public, so
there has as yet been no time to spout arrangement.. We
take it for granted, however, that Lord George Manners will
be in the field ; probably his lordship might bare been made
acquainted with the intended resignation of Mr. Ball, and
hence the paragraph inserted last week by way of feeler in
the London newspapers. In addition to Lord George Man-
ners, we have beard the following gentlemen named as not
unlikely, one or other of them, to be candidates :—Mr. C.
Townley, Major Fryer, and Mr. Young, the Mayor of Wis.
bech.—Cambridge Independent Prem.
PERSIAN GOLF CABLE.—The materials will be
about 2,500 tons of wire ; 1,000 miles of tape ; nearly 300
tons of hemp ; between 200 and 300 toes of allies ; about
130 tons of pitch ; and 1,001) barrels of tar ; besides the
core, &misting of 2251ba. of copper wire, and 275th.. of gutta
percha per nautical mile. The length of cable to be mazu-
factored by Mr. W. T. Henley is 840 nantidll miles of main
cable, 33 nautical miles of shore end, together 875 nautical
mils. The manufacture of the cable is to commune within
twenty.one days after the tender is accepted, and to be com-
pleted within fifteen weeks after it is bebun. After the
first few weeks have eLpeed, not less than Pfty nautical
miles a week must be mark.—HCreptitit,