The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-27 00:00:00

ral nervous disposition among the population, which
is prone to breed phantoms, and these later in their

turn are Apt to becomP unpleasant realities. Ever

since young Bercy was carried off there has been

an uneasiness which it would be difficult to trace to

airy distifict cause, but which yesterday produced

quite a panic in the town.

As every thing has been going on prosperously
hitherto, there was a natural tendency to seek for a

cause why this prosperity should be all at once dis-
turbed. As imaginations were considerably heated,
it could not be expected that the causes which were
most obvious—such as the weakness of the Govern-

ment, the long interregnum, the letting out of con-
victs without even tickets-of-leave—would satisfy
the public mind, and the cause had to be sought
from afar. "It is t.ti attempt at reaction" was the
word whispered, and it soon made the round of
the town ; the suspicion by degrees creating facts,
and each fact leading to another. Almost every
deputy who has come up from the provinces has
brought with him several Palikaris, or armed fol-
lowers, as servants ; you can see scores of these pic-
turesque figures lounging about or squatting down
in front of the entrance door of the Assembly, and
waiting for their masters who are debating in the

Assembly. One glance at them suffioes to see that
not a few of them have as picturesque cut-throat faces
as it is possible to meet with ; but the circumstance

seemed not much remarked before. It has been re-

marked lately, and likewise that they are rather

more numerous than they might be supposed from
the number of deputies. The remark once made,

did not require mach to suspect that an extra supply
of these Palikaris had been brought up with a view

to create terror and disturbance. It was recollected

that one or another adherent of the past regime

rather known for his relations in the native moun-
tains of Palikarism was still in town, and thus the

first link of reaction seemed found. One or two

cases of attempts at burglary and street robbery

confirmed the suspicions. Then came the rumour
that Spiro Milo, the late Minister of War, had

anded at Syra ; soon after that Kolokotroni, late

Prime Minister, had found his way with money and

ammunition to the Morea ; so that by Wednesday

evening all heads were turned. It was known that
an extraordinary sitting of the Council of Ministers
was convoked by the President in the middle of
the night for the despatch of business. This gave
further play to imagination, and stories, one more

wild and absurd than the other, followed in an in-

stant. The Assembly (which is not yet constituted)
was to change the Government; this latter was to

resist and dissolve the Assembly ; there was to be
resistance; an emeute, a revolution; so that yester-
day morning everyone came to tell you that strange
and portentous things are in store.
Now there is nothing like foretelling and persuad-
ing oneself that something is going to happen in
order really to produce something, and so it hap-
pened. The Assembly was listening to and debating
the reports of the commission which is busy scru-
tinising the validity of the elections. Among these
reports was that about the electian of Pylos, which
presented some irregularities, but not sufficiently
important to stamp it as illegal. The commission,
therefore, admitted the election, which was likewise
adopted by the Assembly. A portion of the Moun-
tain, which seemed seized with the general nervous-
ness, insisted, nevertheless, on having the papers re-
lating to this election printed, and several indivi-
duals on both sides lost their temper to such a
degree that the President, unable to control the
Assembly, suspended the sitting for half an hour.
But, while the row inside was at its height, there
arose another outside in the court-yard. The editor
of the satirical paper " cDos,'' who had suffered much
from the persecutions of the late Government, and
to whom a few days ago the Government had al-
lowed 6,000 drachmas as compensation, had pub-
lished in his last number a satire scurrilous and
offensive to the Assembly, which caused considera-
ble sensation, coming as it did immediately after
the Government grant. As ill luck would have it,
he was just passing through the court-yard when
the row was going on inside ; he was recognised,
end the crowd of eivilians and soldiers turned upon
him, shouting that he had insulted the only legiti-
mate power in the country, and by that means the
army, the National Guard, every one else. He was
beaten and cuffed about, when fortunately Z3lll-
- one of the Nauplia officers and now Com-
mandant de place, who happened to be there, inter-
fered and got him away safely. The crowd outside,
above all the Palikaris, hearing the row, and sus-
pecting that there was a battle royal going on, all
rushed to the entrance door, to help and rescue their
masters; nor would it have been possible for the
small picket of Nationals on duty to prevent this
rush, had it not been for the timely interference of
some representatives, who came out and reassured
the faithful followers of the honourable members.
In order to prevent farther disturbance, a company
or two of soldiers were brought up to do duty, and
when the sitting was resumed all the effervescence
had passed away.
Not so in the town, where the indistinct news of
the row at the Assembly spread rapidly. Shops
were closed, people rushed to their houses, the Na-
tional Guard ran for their arms. Strong pickets of
infantry and cavalry paraded the town, nor did the
excitement abate until the Commandant de Place
published a proclamation, which was announced by
the public crier, stating that false rumours had been
propagated by evil disposed persons who wished to
create disturbances, but that it was hoped every one
would remain quiet, as there was not the slightest
foundation for them.
This morning everything has assumed its usual
aspect. However unpleasant, the occurrence had
one good result, and that is to put the spur on the
Government. The night patrols, who had taken
m atters rather easily for some time past, have re-
sumed their duty with greater earnestness, which if
perz:ever,A in will soon restore confidence.
But it is above all to the Assembly that every one
looks as the anchor of safety. Never probably has
there been an Assembly the power of which has been
so universally recognised as the present Nationa
Assembly of Greece. his the first legally constitute!
power atter three months of a most extraordinary
interregnum, with the mere shadow of a Govern-
ment, and every thing so uncertain and precarious
as to inspire little or no confidence. Great, there-
fore, is the impatience to see the Assembly finally
constituted. The members themselves evidently
share this impatience, for they have been hard at
work during all this week to get through the pre-
liminary stage of the verification of the powers.
It was only on Saturday that the result of the
I election of the committees by ballot was counted
up, and on Tuesday the reports on 25 elections were
ready to be presented to the Assembly. The plan
universally followed is liberal and expeditious.
First, all those elections have been taken in hand
against which there are fewest and least founded
objections. By this means there are already more
than sufficient members obtained to form a house in
a case of emergency, although all the elections must
be submitted before the House can really work.
The view taken in these reports is fair and most
liberal. The principle has been steadily adhered
st ot a thatnta t
endo complaintsare to
b e
takenw hic hi
natroe
ancoc
ot
uanitr.e a dTy ub h
is
already a great point gained in a country wherea
corrupt Government has for 30 years fostered
suspicions, and acted upon them. There never has
been an election known against which there have
not been complaints brought forward by the de-
feated party, and these complaints, however un-
founded, led not rarely to enquiries which, managed
as
The t h
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ay
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ar
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et j
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t
the commissioners are not so complaisant as they
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uf
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they are called for.
All the reports which have been presented until
now were favourable, and they were adopted, most
of them almost without discussion, by show of
hands. Yet even this tame work has led to some
interesting scenes, which throw a light on the future
character of the Assembly.
The first and most interesting of these was that
about the report on the election of Thermia or
Kytbnos, and the islands around it. The election
was recognised as regular and valid by the commis-
sion and was submitted to the Assembly, when
amid the profound silence of the House, Timoleon