The Sun.
London, England, 1822-03-25 00:00:00

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lONIAN ISLANDS.

MONDAY, MARCH 25, 1822.

ADDRESS OF HIS EXCELLENCY THE LORD
HIGH COMMISSIONER,

On the 4th of March, 1822, to the Legislative Assembly of
the United lonian States ; published' by permission of his
Excellency, and at the unanimous request of the Assembly.
MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN—The extraordinary
occurrences which have taken place subsequent •to your last
constitutional adjournment, have made me far more anxious on
the present occasion to meet the Representatives of the lonian
People than at the opening of 'any former Session of the Par-
liament of these States.
The period I allude to has indeed been one of a most event-
ful nature; and your executive Government, placed in a situa-
tion perfectly novel, had to adopt such measures as were cal-
culated to obviate the difficulties with which it was surrounded.
On the nature of those measures, and on the necessity which
dictated them, it will now be my duty to enter into an expla.
nation, with the same openness and candour which I have ever
used in all my communications with this assembly.
At the commencement of the last session, I congratulated
you on the internal quiet we enjoyed, whilst on the one side the
kingdom of Naples was in a state of complete revolutionary
convulsion, and on the other the whole of Epirus in that of re-
bellion against its established Government. I strongly,incul-
cated, then, the absolute necessity of the strictest neutrality,
as the only line of conduct on the part of the lonian Govern-
ment that could preserve the people from a participation in
those horrors which desolated the immediate vicinity.
Now, however, the spirit of revolution has extended itself
far beyond the boundaries of Epirus ; and it is known to you
all, that it thoroughly pervades the whole of Acarnania, and
generally every part of Greece ; whilst the Morea in particular
has•become the theatre of barbarities, at which human nature
shudders ! •
Under these circumstances, your Executive Government con-
tinued strictly and religiously to adhere to that principle of neu-
trality of which it had already felt the benefit ; and to this wise
and salutary line of conduct is to be attributed the perfect tran-
quillity now reigning in every part of the lonian States ; though
the measures necessary to enforce it unavoidably became of a
stronger nature, in proportion as .a disposition appeared to con-
travene the system laid down by the Government.
On the nature and progress of these measures, 1 shall not
now enter into a verynnnute detail. They were all open and
avowed ; and are well known to every member of the assem-
bly ; but I have ordered the different proclamations issued to
be laid upon your table, which will give you an opportunity of
examining each individually, and of instituting such inquiries
as you may deem expedient ; to assist which, the Executive
Government will readily furnish every document or paper con-
nected with the subject which the assembly may wish to have
before it:
Neither is it my intention to detain you by a precise detail of
those numberless acts of violation of the neutrality which the
Government was called on to restrain and repress. I shall how-
ever advert to some of the most prominent ; and particularly
to that unfortunate transaction at Zante, which forced the Exe-
cutive Government to adopt the most decisive steps at once to
crush the tumultuous and rebellious spirit which had thus shewn
itself in these States.
However deeply I may lament the irritation which has ex-
isted, I am willing to allow that it admits of greal palliation
under all the circumstances of the ease. It did not surprise the
Executive Government, when the spirit of revolt against the
Turkish yoke reached the continent immediately adjacent to the
southern part of these states, that the people should display the
strongest sympathy in favour of the insurgents, who were of the
same religious persuasion as themselves, with similar habits,
language, and manners : on the contrary, the circumstances of
the case naturally gave rise to the belief that enthusiasm would
prevail for the emancipation of those who had long suffered un-
der a rule of great severity.
These considerations were sensibly felt by the Government ;
and it was therefore not only desirous of overlooking trifling
deviations from its orders, but of passing under silence many
acts, which, abstractedly considered, must have been held of a
most culpable nature. Determined, however, as-the Govern-
ment was to save the lonian people from the consequences of
their infatuation, it could not abstain from adopting measures
absolutely necessary for the support of the principle it had de-
clared, when it found that the people were disposed to act so as
to endanger the internal tranquillity of the islands, and to de-
stroy the whole public, character of the Government.
As a proof that these measures were forced on the Execu-
tive Government, I shall call to your recollection the numerous
emigrations (particularly from the islands of Cephalonia and
Zante) of the people of these States ; they did not individually
withdraw themselves, without ostentation or tumult, to follow
their own particular fancies and inclinations ; bat throwing off
their allegiance, they quitted the lonian shoreS in the face of
day, with arms in their hands, openly braving the orders and
the authority of the Government, to wage war against a Power
in profound amity and peace with their Own country, against
which they at least had no,ground of complaint.
I shall beg to remind you, that the proclamations against
clandestine departures from the Islands were not issued till
scenes such as these had passed; nor till a regular manifesto
had been published in the Morea, signed by natives of Cepha-
lonia and Zante, declaring themselves the Chiefs and Generals
of the united forces of those Islands.
The conduct of the Parganots is also to be noticed, as ex-
hibiting a scene which it.was impossible for the Government ro
pass over, unless it tamely consented to be considered as a
party to a transaction the m3st lawless and unprincipled. I al-
lude to the regular military expedition from these islands
against Para by its former inhabitants who had found an
asylum in these States ; and to the positive refusal on the
part of this Government again to receive them after the defeat
they had suffered in their predatory expedition.
I will not dwell on the horritile massacre of the unfortunate
Turks in the island of Cerigo, for i wish for ever to throw a
veil over that transaction. But I cannot pass over the unhap-
py affair of Zante, with which is immediately connected the
declaration of martial law, and.the decisive measure of disarm-
ing the population of the lonian States ; for, without entering
into any long. detail of what took place on this melancholy oc-
casion, a brief statement of the case appears to me to be
necessary.
A Turkish brig of war surrounded by Greek cruisers, after
resisting their attack, anchored in a bay at the back of the
islands, in the vicinity of the town ; the population of which,
and of the neighbouring villages, had assembled to witness
the naval engagement. A small detachment of an officer. and
twenty men were sent to ensure the observance of the Sanitary
laws on the part of the Turks, when the people commenced an
attack upon his Majesty's troops, wounding an officer, killing
a soldier, and wounding two others, before they could retreat
into a house from which they might defend themselves ; and
when a reinforcement arrived, the people retired for the time.
Gentlemen, I call this an act of open and flagrant rebellion
without *vocation, for there was not the slightest ; and the
troops in fact were employed at the moment in the 'service of
the people, to prevent the danger of the introduction of the
plague into the island.
But it has been said that this was merely the ebullition of the
moment. lam as ready. as any man to allow for the feelings,
excited by the contest existing between the Turks and the
Greeks ; and in consequence of what was then passing between
the squadrons of the contending parties before the eyes of the
assembled people, the ebullition of the moment may be pleaded
as some palliation for the first attack on this small detachment ;
but how is such an excuse to lA admitted as any extenuation
for the subsequent attackactually made by the same people on
his Majesty's troops in the middle of the night ? or as any
apology for the Morean horrors practised on the dead 'body of
the unfortunate soldier, which fell into their hands in the un-
happy business of the morning.
Having now, then, shortly narrated those prominent trans-
actions which drove the Executive Government to the adoption
of strong measures, it is necessary that I should explain my-
self more at length in regard to the strongest of those mea-
sures—the disarming the population of these states, and the
-declaration of martial law.
It is certain that the Government was originally urged to
this proceeding by what had occurred at Zante. In that island
there appease to me to be a most obvious necessity for it,
resting on grounds of common military precaution, arising
from no suspicion of treason against the state that required
proof, but from downright unprovoked hostile attacks on hiS
Majesty's forces.
In considering then all that had passed, the Executive Go-
vernment felt that it had no other course to pursue, but that of