The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-17 00:00:00

REGENCY OF TUNIS.

Trims, Nov. s.—ln my letter of 7th October I
spoke to you of the interference of the British Consul-
General on behalf of a Greek, a Russian protege, who
was accused of murder. The Bey ordered the imme-
diate liberation of the prisoner, who was only guilty of
imprudence ; but as this affair has made a great noise
in the country, and that, leaving aside party spirit and
national prejudices, we consider all the Europeans re-
siding in the regency to be the members of one great
family, of which the Consuls are the heads, united by
common interests, and in duty bound to afford one
another mutual support and protection, I have thought
proper to revert to this affair, and to the noble and
humane conduct of Sir Thomas Read.
All the Greeks resident in Tunis have forwarded to
King Otho a report of the transaction, which fully bears
out my statement, and they have, moreover, addressed
the following letter of thanks to Sir Thomas Read :
" Sir,—The Greek residents in Tunis, represented
by the chief of their creed, and their deputies, come and
deposit at your feet the tribute of their gratitude.
Thanks to your kind interference, our countryman is
free ! Greek blood, so long at the mercy of Mussulmans,
will not flow again under the axe of their executioners.
Your protecting hand has averted the arm uplifted to
strike. Abandoned by his own Consul, who remained
deaf to our entreaties, and to the tears of a disconsolate
family, our innocent and unfortunate countryman was
on the point of being sacrificed when we came to implore
your support. You have justified our expectation—you
have proved yourself a worthy representative of the
British nation—you recollected that England fought for
our independence, and was one of the first to recognize
it. You recollected that we possessed the tomb of the
greatest of modern poets, of Lord Byron, who came to
the sacred land of Greece, and, Tirteus-like, inspired us
by his immortal hymns with the love of glory and
liberty ! You remembered the ties of friendship which
now unite Greece, the ancient mother of fine arts and
civilization, with England, their modern sanctuary, and
you would not allow us to be debased and exposed to
the contempt of a fanatical population, ♦ociferating with
joy before the remains of our beheaded countryman.
Accept our thanks. Sir, with this public homage of
our respectful acknowledgment, and we trust that our
Government, who will soon be informed of your noble
conduct in this circumstance, will hasten to requite the
immense service you have rendered us, and testify to you
likewise all its gratitude.
" We have the honour to be, Sir, with the most
profound respect, in the name of all the Greek residents
in Tunis, your most humble and obedient servants,
(Signed) " Panajoti Gialla, Nicolo Paleologo, Sa-
rando Chirussi, Giovani Iconopulo, Demetrio
Paramitiotti, Giovani Christopulo, Berio Papa-
paolo, Manoli Marinopulo, Ilia Crassacopulo,
Panajoti Teodoro.
" Tunis, Oct. 12, 1839."

Public curiosity has been excited for some days in a
most lively manner. The Bey has just received an em-
bassy from Abd-el-Kader, whose ostensible mission is
to offer him ten splendid horses, a pair of pistols, a ya-
tagan enriched with diamonds, lion and panther skins,
and dates. This event is the more deserving of atten-
tion, as hitherto the Bey never bad any relations with
the Emir. It is, consequently, the theme of many coa-
j ectures.

- The Neapolitan squadron, composed of two brigs,
three frigates, and a ship of the line, bearing the flag of
Commodore Caraffa, arrived in Tunis ou the 30th of
October from Algiers.

Another letter from Tunis, dated the 16th ult., con-
tains the particulars of the explosion on board the barge
Santissimo Christo, in the Goulette, alluded to in our
Malta letters of the 26th ult. Nothing could equal the
scene of desolation and horror offered by La Goulette
after this disaster. There were 117 barrels of gun-
powder in the vessel, and the commotion was so strong
that all the houses were shaken---not a pane of glass
left entire. The lustres and crystals of the Bey's
Palace were broken, and the Santissimo Christ()
was blown to atoms, heads frightfully disfigured,
fragments of human bodies, pieces of flesh so niuti-
lat2d that it was impossible to discover to what part
of the body they had belonged ; arms, legs, and hands lay
scattered here and there on the shore. A poor wretch
wi'h broken limbs was the only victim who survived
awhile the disaster ; and to questions addressed to bins
respecting its cause he replied, in a faint and dying
voice, " We were all on deck, the boy had just gone
down into the cabin with a light, when suddenly I felt
self uplifted into the air, and was shortly afterwards
plunged into the water." He had scarcely finished
these words when be expired.
" This event has disclosed the existence of an extensive
contraband trade, carried on of late by many of our mer-
chants with Souza, Monestir, Media, Sfax, &c. Within
the last few months several thousand quits! a'sofgunpowder
have been landed in those places, in spite of the surveil-
lance exercised by the revenue boats of the Bey along
the coast. A month ego, a convoy of seven camels,
which had left from Souza for the interior, was stopped
in the night by the soldiers of the Bey. These ani-
mals were laden with gunpowder, and marched under
an eseort of several armed men, who, after exchanging
a few shots with the soldiers, abandoned the convoy,
which was brought back to Souza. After the explosion
of the Santissimo Christo, a vessel basing a cargo of
gunpowder on board hastened to weigh anchor, for fear
of being searched, and a small barge, in which ten
quintals of that article were found, was confiscated by
the Minister of Marine. All this powder is sent on
to Abd-el-Bader, through Kerronan Djerid, and the
Great Desert. The coincidence of this active smuggling
with the mysterious embassy of the Emir, mentioned
in my letter of the sth, gives additional weight to the
conjectures respecting the nature of the propositions
which he is believed to have made to the Bey to se-
duce him into a league against the French. Notwith-
standing the gravity of these facts, which will oblige our
Government to demand explanations from the Bey, we
persist in considering the latter to be altogether a
stranger to these intrigues, and, having witnessed the
measures adopted by his orders, it mould be the height
of injustice if we were to make him responsible for a
contraband trade which he cannot possibly prevent.
" The Neapolitan Squadron, which was to repair to
Malta, received orders to return to Naples, and sailed
on the 6th."—Semaphore de Mai-males.

CHURCH-RATE PERSECUTION. There is
now, and has been for nearly twelve months, confined
within the walls of Chelmsford gaol, a poor man named
John Thorogood. The offence with which he is charged
is neglect to appear in the Court at Doctors' Commons,
in answer to a charge of Five Shillings and Sixpence
for Church-rates. So for non-payment of ss, 6d.
Church-rate, this poor man has already endured nearly
one year's imprisonment, and the
in the person
of John
and opponents of
that most unjust imposition, have
hiving Thorogoodkind
nioa s
i practical%,hioi ainstanceaitsany
of
one the
of
mercy
those who may neglect to answer a clerical citation.
Shame upon the professors of a religion, whose works
are Church-rates or imprisonment, extortion or com-
mitment to jail—shame upon a country that permits
one of its people to languish in prison for conscience
sake—and shame upon all who do not aid in the abo-
lition of such partial and •
unjust laws as those by
which the power to levy Church-rates is given. With
the example of John Thorogood before their eyes,
will the leypapers of Cheshire allow an Act of Parlia-
ment to be obtained to apply county rates for the pur-
poses of Church-rates, and thus strengthen clerical ra-
pacity by giving it additional scope for display ? We
think not.—North Cheshire Reformer.
Yesterday the three prisoners, Jeffs, Watkins,
and Thacker, underwent a final examination in the
County Gaol, before R. Hiorns, Esq., the Mayor, and
C. Lamb, charged with the
late sacrilegious burglary
and robbery at St. Mary's Church. Six of the articles
stolen (the brass plates) were produced. They had been
found ;n a ditch at Birmingham, where they had been
" planted," or concealed by the thieves. The evidence
being satis • factory and complete, the three prisoners were
committed for trial at the next Borough Sessions. It
will be recollected that Jeffs and Watkins had been pre-
viously committed for passing a forged Bank of Eng-
land note.-11'arwickshire Adrerliser.
SCARBOROUGH TO YORK.—An engineer is
now actively engaged in survQing, Scarborough and
neighbourhood, with a view to having a railway between
the above-named places.