The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-09-24 00:00:00

THE GREEKS.

in addition to the information from Greece which we ounmuni
rated vent:Way, on the war in Wooer's Greece, a letter of the 10th
of July eves, that, a few days previously, Prince Iliarracordato,
the ilm-erpordleneral of Western Greece, had received an official
report reran Generals Zonga and 'tango, who had been sent with
an truly rfgaitist the fortunes of Arta, and such parts of the province
itself at were occupied by Turkish troops. giving details of die
minters• operations, from which it appears that the Turks, being
posted it considerable force on the confines of ltudovizo, where they
might hare long teninted the force sent against them were no sooner
attacked by the cutpunts of the Greek army, than they made a dill.
position to retreat, and In the courtt of the night decamped, levy.
tog behind them al their arms, r,:litary cheats, and bagage,
taking the direction of the tiotrenn of Arta, for protection. l)imi.
trio (logo. a Greek traitor, who had luxn for some time plotting
with the Turks, tusk the same opportunity of clscaping with his
family. 'boon after this aftivir, wlsteh wan importait, as it allowed
the Gretli army to proaed rapidly against Arta, Tahir Abasi,
who wan en his way to It:Ow/it" with a reinforcement of more
than 14!iffi Turks, haring halted at Comlxiti, whAc he heard of
the iii,3llt of the Turks Iron Ruder:len, was seized with a panic and
fled with his force also to .'trta, where, at the date Of the last ac-
counts, a large army was shut up almost destitute of provisions, and
much disposed to capitulate. The Generals, in titer report, state
that the entire province, widi the exreption of the ;omens, which
only bolds out front the wan; of besieging artillery on the part of
the Gieeks, is entirely freed from the enemy, mid the inhabitants
full of joy at their deliverance.
Thew:count% fmin Patraa, where the Turks still hos out, are
rather less favourable. Thegarrinon appear to have made a sortie,
In which. front the imprudence of the Greek Chief commanding
the blockading forces on the land side, they had been successful ;
but on the other hand the Turks had lost a brig of war and several
'meta vessels, which, in attempting to quit the harbour, bad
beep attacked and destroyed by Greek gunboats. kr a proof of
the courage of the Greek sailors, it in mated that One gun-boat was
able for five hours to contend with the brig of war, until the are
rival of four other gun-boats unaided the Greeks to blow up the
enemy.
A curious circumstance is mentiimed in one of the Wasolonetti
letters, relative to the surrender of Napoli tie Romania by young
Colocotroni (who held mot for some time against the Greek Go-
! yerntnent.) A great number of Turks haul been fur some time in
that city, in custody of Colacotroni, who, when forced to stir.'
render to the authority of the Central Government, bargained to'
release them for a certain "'km, and entered into a treaty for their
conveyance home with the Captain of a French vets& The lat::r
was about to receive them on board, ...when a Greek Lieutenant,
who had entered the town with a smali corps, heard of the ch.
cumatanee, and threatened to fire upon the French vessel if she
did not withdraw. The Captain resisted for sonic time, but at
length finding the guns pointed against lam, lie hoisted sail and
quitted the harbour.

Vit. Dupuis, whose work on Ashantee we lafe.y re-
viewed at great length, has published a reply to an article
respective the Colonies out the Gold Coast, written by
Captain Laing, and copied into this Paper. We have not
room for the reply of Mr. Dupuis, unabridged, but the
sebject is too intportant to be passed over without notice.
1;e. have therefore extraited the following, which appears
to us to convey the substance of Mr. Dupuis's defence:—
" Captain. Laing, it seems, however, is an advocate for
consteney and perseverarte, as appears by the sincere
regrets he expresses the. any disaweement between the
Company's Officers and myself should have " induced me
to lay aside," what he calls " the reciprocal and friendly
intercourse which, by a littleconsisteney and persever'nce, I
might have been enabled to secure by stoppiiig at Ashantee."
The author of this sentiment, it is to be hoped, can give
the public E'elear and satisfactory reason why he quitted,
not t eerie of hopeless and heart-renains discussion, where
he had to contend, single•handed, against a hecatomb of
enemies, and which involved his honour, hit conscience,
and his interestsbUt a field of deep and direful action,
where his friends iu arms were associated for their very
existence, and where, from the great scarcity of white men,
probably his individual services might have been consi-
dered instrunsettel to the public good, and the greater
safetytf the 'Colonies, in the wretchedness they exhibited
at the time he embarked for Europe. Without dispa-
ragement to the Captain, whose merits as an officer and
a traveller I can duly appreciate, I will say, that, had 1
ever pledged myself so deeply in the cause which he calls
that of freedom, although holding no other than civil powers
and civil rank, I feel it .very doubtful whether I could have
suffered myself to be influenced to the measure of returning
home at such a crisis, tinder any pretext whatever, for I do
conceive that an offiLial report is at all times sufficient
to rouse the energy of governments. My reasons for
having left Coomassy, and fee having quitted Cape
Coast also, are already given to the world in my pub-
lication, and they are such as, I flatter myself, being
known and iris. tutable. all reasonable men will con-
cur in their propriety with reference to the object I had in
view. They are such, moreover, as I can look back upon
with self-complacency and an unsullied conscience, when
I reflect upon the folly, insincerity, imbecility, and vanity
of the African Councils of that day; or when I invoke
Heaven in attestation, that I, at least, am guiltless, as well
of the cause which induced the rupture with the King
of Ashantee, as of the dre:adfill consequences which it
has entailed upon the colonisti and natives: indeed, so
far to the contrary, and so much to the discredit of
Capt. Laing's assertion about my consistency," &c. I have
endeavoured to shew, and 'can support my assertions,
when needful, that I, and I believe I alone, have main-
tained a character for consistency in my warmest remon-
strances against the measures of administration employed
by the serVants of the late African Company—in my pro-
teats against the rash and impolitic step of bidding the
King open defiance, and as it were courting the war—in
my letters of pretest and remonstrance to England, to the
Governor and Council, to the late Sir George Collier, and
the late Sir Charles M'Carthy, reprobating the conduct of
those who opposed my mediation with the King, who pre-
vented my settling the native " palaver" for 330 ounces of
gold, and Who took upon themselves publicly to abjure the
treaty I had ratified and exchanged at the Court of Coo-
massy for the restoration of peace, and the suppression of
intemperate and inconsiaL rate acts and sentiments of hos-
tility. Surely Captain Laing, in his hearsay collection of
gleanings, might also have heard that these protests, these
letters of correspondence, and the other documents to which
I allude, and which have unhappily verified my fullest pre-
dictions of the result of a war with the King of Ashantee,
are rigiatertal from the year 1819, were renewed in 1820,
when I returned from Coomassy,and have been persevered in
down to the present hour, with undeviating zeal and anxiety
in the cause of fouisteney, conscience, and fact, even in op-
position to my individual, and my family Interests, present
or remote, as I can prove by undeniable documents, when
and where I please: although I see no good reason why I
should afford any such elucidation to Captain Laing, re-
garding transactions which may have occurred between me
and the African Company's servants, or his own late supe-
riors.

" But, if my inconsistency, or want of perseverance,
and not the mad-administration of others, has really been
the occasion, however remotely, of the disastrous issue of
the nutter " palaver," as Captain Laing may consider, I
am o!•ett to the inquiry of his Mtyjesty's Ministers, or of
any tribunal in England, from the Honourable House of
Commons to any other Court or Committee of investiga-
tion. If even the Captain thinks himself competent to such
a task, and imagines he is capable of substantiating these or
any similar charges azainst me, let him accept of this pledge
as my warrant and invitation to do so, although 1 confess
I am of opinion, that the task would be more fitting to
others of superior rank, and, perhaps, qualifications ; or
to any gentleman in fact who could talk and write from
his own knowledge of facts, and not from the second and
third ipso dirit translations of Fantee " palavers." I en-
gage, however, to meet any investigation, for I think
that there is room for censure in regard to the calamities
which may at this hour involve the safety of that ill-fated
colony, Cape Coast ; and although the friends of Mr.
Smith, as Captain Laing seems to think, may be employ:if
in the task of publishing their °pinions regarding the
" policy" of that gentleman's conduct, which may mate-
rially niter the present received opinion of the in/policy,
or m•tl-administration, of Cape Coast Legislation, I would
not wish to conceal the fact that, besides the evidence
(not the bare assertion of truths) already submitted by me
to public scrutiny, I hive yet another manuscript and
other vouchers for its authenticity, which, if needful, I
shall publish also ; but which I have hitherto suppressed,
from other feelings than those which seem to have in-
fluenced Captain Laing."

On Tuesday last, the coach that runs between Cold-
stream and Edinburgh, by Kelso mil Lauder, was over-
turned on the road near Cra'smillar Castle, about thtee
miles from town.