The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-20 00:00:00

THE SON, LONDON, TatTRSOVir EVENING, NOVEMBER 20, 1862.

collectedly as if nothing whatever of an extraordi-
nary nature had just occurred.
Traversing the streets of the violet-
crowned city of the Acropolis from end
to end, the Eyewitness sent out there to
watch the actual appearance of Revolutionised
Greece, as the representative of our chief morning
contemporary, protests, in his earlier despatches
from Athens, that there are visible in no one
direction the tokens cf a recent rising of the
multitude, or of the recent expulsion of a
Sovereign. Modern Greece, unlike Ancient
Greece, may still, too, abundantly have to
" suckle fools" upon her soil ; but, obviously,
" Our Special Correspondent" has nothing better
for it but, on first reaching Athens, to " chronicle
small beer"—judging at least from his two prefa-
tory communications, the only missives of his that
have yet made their appearance. In proof of this,
here is his record, for instance, of the circumstances
attendant upon his first arrival at the Pirreus :
" At last the morning dawned which was to bring
us to the end of our journey. Although there was
no chance of arriving before noon all was bustle
from early dawn. Carpetbags and parcels were
opened, and the best clothes taken out to prepare
for the great moment—clean shirt-collars made
their appearance, and the wet towel was plied about
the face a second or two longer than the morning
before." Carpetbags ! parcels ! shirt-collars ! wet
towels ! Surely if he had nothing better to write
about than this," Our Special Correspondent" might
have spared much of the time, ink, and paper ex-
pended in the production of his first lengthy and
tolerably readable, but wholly unimportant com-
munication. As a further ',specimen, however, of
the frivolity of this initiatory letter, here is the
record made of the advance through the harbour
of the Pirteus to the Dogana—" Which,".he observes,
"is to the right hand of the harbour. And the
first sight which meets you is that of a number of
armed civilians standing about the place They are
the improvised National Guard of the town of
Piraeus, mostly young men under 20, and evidently
belonging to the wealthier classes. Every one has
adopted some distinctive sign, with not much regard
to uniformity. Blue scarfs, red scarfs, blue muslin
or red ones round their wide-awakes, red ribands or
tricolour ones, white, red, and blue, in their but-
tonholes. • They understand their mission, for they
keep off the rowdies who crowd about you and your
luggage. A civil douanier helps you to open
your trunks, and having looked at them without turn-
ing out everything, helps you again to shut them
up," Passing through the Custom-house—" Out-
side," he continues, "are the hackney coachmen,
eager for prey, as of old, every one anxious to set
forth the advantages of his own vehicle. You
choose, and off starts in a gallop your triumphant
Jehu. You look about you as you pass through the
town of Piraeus. There are the idlers before the
coffee and wine shops as of old ; the artisans in their
workshops, neither more nor less excited than usual.
Your coachman stops to pay the toll at the outskirts of
the town ; once more you look back from the hill on
which you are to the town and harbour behind, and
your carriage rolls down at a rapid pace into the
plain which separates Athens from the Piraeus. It
is rather more dusty than usual, for there has been
no rain for several months, and the watering has
been discontinued since the revolution; but right
and left the labourers are busy clearing the dust
away from the roots of the young trees, and bank-
ing it up all round so as to form a trough for thd
water, which they may hope for in less busy times."
Altogether the picture here drawn of Athens on the
morrow of her last revolution is one indicative, on the
part of the Greek multitude, of extraordinary self-
possession and deliberate tranquillity. From which
state of things we cannot certainly but augur the
very best as to the wisdom of the final decision
arrived at by the population as to their future
Government. Particularly as to the wisdom of
their eventual selection of the head of that Govern-
ment. Gradually, from the very first, the pre-
ference appears to be settling down almost unani-
mously upon the second son of the Queen of ENG-
LAND, as among all the Princes hitherto spoken of
as likely to be promoted to the throne—the favou-
rite eandidate. To the selection of Prince ALFRED
by the Greeks there are, undoubtedly, many in-
d
u
c
e
m
of Greece,e
n
t
s.
Eleva
and you Royal Highness to the
throne you assure at once to
Greece all the powerful sustaining and strengthen-
ing influence derivable from that bond of union.
with the reigning power of England ! At once
moreover, you ensure to Greece the most reasonable'
probability of a very considerable territorial
aggrandisement ! One which the Greeks have long
hankered after—viz., the acquisition of the lonian
Islands ! That probability, that all but certainty of
the annexation of the lonian Islands to the kingdom
of Greece, is of itself an almost irresistible induce-
ment to the Greeks to select Prince ALFRED as their
future Sovereign ! Above all, the inducements to
powerfully among all
mthaanticfehsotileye
operatingof his
very p
Royal Highness is the one now
ranks and classes of the Greek multitude—the fact
that his Royal Highness's selection as King of Greece
would be the securest of all possible guarantees to
Greece,
otvhe aa
the
priceless blessing of a good Consti-
tutional Government. It is true that the arrange-
ment of G
entered into thirty years ago in the presence
of all Christendom,
Europe,
precluded great powers of Conti-
nental from nomination to the
recbyde thed
throne of Greece, any Prince of the reigning
houses of England, of France, or of Russia. But the
contract containing that solemn and rigid stipula-
tion has now been completely and publicly cancelled
—also in presence of all Christendom. Cancelled by
the Greeks themselves, through the medium of their
late revolution, cancelled with the recognition and
connivance of the three great contracting powers,
,who now act, in regard to Greece, upon the Non-
Intervention principle. The Greeks have got rid of
their late King of themselves. They can make choice
of their new King—just as freely—of themselves.
Obviously they could harnly make a better choice
than by the nomination of his Royal Highness, the
second son of Queen VICTORIA, as ALFRED, King
of GREECE.

THE PRINCE OF WALES.—His Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales will prepare for his return home to-
day, after his extended tour in company with their Royal
Highnesses the Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia.
Since Monday letters and papers for the Prince of Wales
have been directed to Marseilles.
STEAMERS FOR THE CONFEDERATES.—The fleet
of first-class steamers that have been purchased in this
country for the purpose of running the blockade are leaving
gradually. The swift river steamer Ruby, 120 tons, and
the rplendid Belfast mail steamer Giraffe, 360 tons, sailed
on Saturday afternoon frcm Greenock. They have both
undergone a strengthening outfit for the passage. The
Ruby is commanded by Captain Gregory, has 22 men, and
sails in fuel. The Giraffe is commanded by Captain Duguid,
has 50 Men, and takes out a valuable car go in boxes, cases,
and packages (containing .4 Gregory's pills," it is said),
and over £13,000 worth of leather boots, £4,300 worth of
medicines, and £6OO worth of surgical instruments. The
Giraffe also takes out 30 passengers, as they are styled ;
but these are said to be more useful than ornamental.—
Glasgow hformng Journal.
ROBBERY OF A FRENCH EXHIBITOR.--Yesterday
morning M. Louis Corbet, on returning from superintending
the removal of his goods from the Exhibition building, was
robbed of a purse, in which were 30 napoleons, 25 guil-
laumes (Holland), 15 guilders,
and four sovereigns. Ho
alighted from the omnibus at the corner of Coventry-street,
Haymarket, when having occasion for some money, he dis•
covered it had been. stolen. Information was sent to the
different bullion dealers, but with little chance of the money
being recovered,