The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-04 00:00:00

from Penn:ak to these shores, and received from
our Government a very proper snubbing for their
impertinence. Of late their once obtrusive bene-
volence, has dvvindled down to a more chill resezve,
till at last they come forward in a new character,
and appear in the unenviable light of public in-
formers. They now avouch, from anonymous infor-
mation, that the King and Government of Greece
are wanting in honesty and honour. The people
over whom they obtruded their unasked protection
may well exclaim—

- "It was all very well to dissemble your love,
But why did you kick me down stairs ?"
The reputation and fair fame of the Hellenes are as
yet intact under the bright new shield of King
George. It is the Philhellenic Committee which is
the first to stepforward to cast dirt at them. As
there has been for some time no Greek Minister 1
London, that body took upon itself to assume func-
tions and a character to which it had no real claim
whatever, and, having thus fumed itself into public
notice, it now ventures to asperse the clients Of
whose cause it took forcible possession. The com-
mittee of its own authority makes known to the
English public the intelligence that Greece intends
to repudiate her debts. This assertion is based upon.
the simple statement of an anonymous correspon-
dent of Mr. Stephanos Xenos. It is indeed surpris-
ing that a gentleman, who ought to be acquainted
with the plain facts of the day in Athens and the
obvious position of his country, should for one mo-
ment venture to )ay before the public statements so
absurd, because so obviously unfounded. A word
disposes of the entire accusation. The Hellenic king-
dom is not yet constituted. The lonian Islands
are not yet annexed. The Parliament is not yet
sitting in the plenitude of its powers. How, then,
is it possible for the Government to settle what
shall be done with foreign debts when itself is not
yet settled ? The Hellenic kingdom is to be consti-
tutional. It will be for its Parliament to discuss and
to decide upon questions of financial expediency
and national honour. This is so apparent that, had
any enemy brought charges of a defamatory nature
against the Greeks, we should have expected the
Philhellenic Committee, had it only been worthy of
its name, to have explained this, whilst it might
have fairly claimed some credit for the good inten-
tions of the present Administration at Athens. Nor
only this. Count Sponneck, if a candid and bold
adviser, is sure to be upright and honourable, and
we may be certain that he will never counsel his
young master to enter on a path of repudiation
which would produce immediate distrust, and lead
to ultimate disaster. It is very unfair to give the
new State a bad name on the flimsy grounds which
have been put forward. We do not as yet see any
evidence that the Greeks intend to act otherwise
than honestly, and we believe they will pursue a
straightforward course. When the question of the
foreign debt comes before their Parliament we aro
quite ready to presume that they will deal with it
on its merits, and that as a nation they are not so
lost to self-respect as to require to be either pa-
tronised or bullied into doing what is right. The
absence of a Greek Minister at this Court, which
has suggested to this officious Philhellenic Com-
mittee to usurp powers for which it has no creden-
tials whatever, and a strange apathy on the part of
that oddly-composed and reckless body, has given
opportunity to Mr. Xenos to play a more important
part than he is entitled to assume. This " timid
Greek" reminds us of Mr. Charles Mathews in " Cool
as a Cucumber," when he ventures unasked to
meddle in affsirs with which he has no business.
The clever comedian is not more serious than the
honorary secretary of the committee when he comes
forward to discharge his "painful but solemn duty."
As Mathews tells the old father of the crimes and
follies of the son,when the boy is innocent of them
all, so the impetuous Xenos rushes into print to
blacken the reputation of Ministers and King, and
to damage the credit of his country. " Save US
from the Philbellenes" will surely be the cry of the
Greeks, who, it is only just to suppose, in spite of
their friends, will disappoint the expectations of
their enemies, and meet the reasonable &Aims of
their creditors.

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