The Sun.
London, England, 1849-08-22 00:00:00

lONIAN ISLANDS.

An Extraordinary Gazette of the lonian Islands
dated the Ist, contains the following letter, dated the
31st ult., from the Lord High Commissioner (Mr.
Ward) to the President of the Senate of the lonian
Islands, proposing an amnesty for political offences :
"Highness,—The time has now arrived when I
can, with propriety, call your attention, and that of
Senate, to a question in which I feel the deepest
rest.
" Theyear 1848 was marked, throughout Europe,
by a series of social convulsions so rapid and so exten-
sive as to be without a precedent in the history. of
mankind ; and it is much to the credit of the lonian
States that, at a time when the wildest principles
were enounced, and the oldest monarchies shaken, by
the universal craving for political change, their peace
should only have been disturbed by the attempt made
upon the towns of Argostoli and Lixuri by a band of
armed peasants on the 26th of September, 1848.
" What the history of that attempt was—whether
it were of native or foreign origin—whether the bulk
of those who took part in it, were influenced by the
prospect of plunder, or by the wild hope of effecting a
revolution by the miserable means at their command
—it is of little use now to inquire. Their design has
been characterised as " an insane project by the Go-
vernment Procurator Fiscal, in his report upon the
case. The few men of any note, who were said to be
connected with the movement, have sought safety in
foreign lauds, or have been set at liberty from the
supposed insufficiency of the evidence produced
against them ; and the prisoners now in custody,
appear almost without exception, to have been the
dupes of needy adventurers, who did not scruple to
expose their followers to dangers, which they had not
the courage to share.
" Is it necessary, or desirable, to bring these pri-
soners to trial upon a charge of high treason, and thus
to re- open, after the lapse of nine months, wounds,
which in every other country, and in much graver
cases, time has allowed to heal ?—I cannot think so;
and I feel sure that I only speak the sentiments of
the Queet, my Royal Mistress, in recommending
to your Highness, and to the Senate, to throw a
veil over the past, and to put a stop to all legal pro-
ceedings by an amnesty, from which I would only
except those men who have proclaimed their own
guilt by quitting their country, or those who may
be proved hereafter to have been in any way con-
cerned in the foul and cold•blooded murders com-
mitted by the refugees upon their return from Greece
in May, 1849.
"I was at first disposed to add to this list of excep-
tions, the parish priests now in custody, and whose
conduct has been peculiarly culpable; but I am
willing to hope that the clemency of the Government,
and the bright example of their spiritual superiors,
whose prudence and moderation throughout this try-
ing period have been beyond all praise, will inspire
them with a juster sense of the duties, than beseem
their holy calling, and teach them to redeem their
past errors, by setting, in future, a better example to
their flocks.
" I am too well aware of your Highness's kindly
sentiments towards your native island, which I too
have learnt to value, for I have seen, during my re-
cent visit to Cephalonia, proofs of industry, enterprise,
and• perseverance, which some of the other islands
will do well to emulate, not to feel sure
that this recommendation will receive your cordial
concurrence, as it will, I hope, that of the Senate.
We are entering upon a new era. Changes long de-
sired by the lonian people have been discussed in the
lonian Parliament with the cordial assent of the Pro-
tecting Sovereign, and although her Majesty's plea-
sure upon the details of the measures submitted to her
has not yet been communicated to me, I entertain no
doubt that the Bills introduced by Lord Seaton, with
her Majesty's sanction, will, in the course of a few
weeks, form the basis of large constitutional reforms,
which are the more likely to be lasting and satisfac-
tory, because adopted without any of that popular
excitement which has been fatal to the cause of
rational liberty elsewhere.
" The lonians have only to look around them to see
how difficult it is to build even where it is easiest to
destroy ; and when they look back, as I trust they
will do, some years hence, to the turbulent times
through which we have passed, and contrast their
own peaceful progress—the attainment by legal and
constitutional means of a free press, free municipal
institutions, a free representation, and of that growing
control which such institutions imply, over the con-
duct of their own affairs —with the fate of other
countries, whose wild aspirations for freedom have
left no solid monument behind, they will do more
justice than they have sometimes done of late to the
motives and conduct of that power under whose
friendly auspices these blessings have been achieved.
" I recommend, therefore, to your Highness and to
the Senate the proclamation of an amnesty embracing
all those who are about to take their trial for the oc-
currences of September, 1846. I think this the proper
preliminary to the work that we have in hand. I feel
confident that such an act will afford the purest satis-
faction to the heart of her Majesty the Queen; and if
there be individuals here foolish enough to misinter-
pret it, or to ascribe to a want of firmness in the
Government a leniency produced by the consciousness
of a superior power, I can only warn them that they
will find themselves deceived. It is the overwhelming
disparity of strength that may be brought to bear by
the general government, with the ail of the protecting
power, upon all who violate the law, that justifies the
act of grace which I now propose, and in which, for
the reasons assigned in this message, I trust that your
Highness and the Senate will concur."
In compliance with the Lord High Commissioner's
recommendation, " His Highness the President of the
Senate and the most illustrious the senators of the
United States of the lonian Islands," issued the follow-
ing proclamation :
" Having seen the message of his Excellency the
Lord High Commissioner, dated 31st July, 1849—
"The Senate, fully concurring in the sentiments mani-
fested by his Excellency in that message—accord an am-
r esty to all those persons who stand committed to take
their trial for the occurrences in Cephalonia on 26th
September, 1848. This amnesty does not extend to those
who proclaimed their own guilt by flyinc,e' their country
—nor to those who may hereafter be found to have been
implicated in the cold-blooded murders committed in the
L aid island in the month of May, 1849.
"By order of the Senate, A. L. Dusatasa.
"Acting Secretary to the Senate for
the General Department.
" Corfu, Ist Aug., 1849."

THE FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE NORTH KENT
RAILWAY.—Mr. C. J. Carttar, Coroner for licnt, held
an inquest yesterday at the Castle Tavern, Woolwich,
touch ng the death of Hannah Murphy, the wife of a
labouring man, who was killed at the Woolwich station
on the evening of Sunday last. From the evidence it
appeared that the deceased, with her husband and three
or four friends, all natives of the emerald isle, had been
enjoying themselves at Woolwich during the afternoon,
and after paying visits to half-a-dean different public
houses were returning to the railway station in order to
proceed to London, when by some accident they got se-
parated. The deceased, imagining that her husband had
taken his ticket and gone through the station, hastened
after him, as she supposed, and finding a train alongside
the platform she grasped hold of one of the third class
carriages in order to obtain a seat within it. The train
was in motion at the time, and the deceased, continuing
to hold on, was dragged along a few paces and then fell
between two carriages in such a position that a part of
the train passed over her chest, and caused
instant death. It appeared that the train de-
ceased attempted to get into was going to
Gravesend from London, and just in the opposite direc-
tion to that in which deceased wanted to go. Evidence
having been given to show that every proper precaution
was taken for the preservation of the passengers from
injury, the coroner remarked that the accident appeared
to him to have arisen entirely through the woman's own
negligence. The poor creature appeared to have
missed her husband, and without knowinc,' whether
the carriage alongside the plattorm belonged to the up
Or down train, she had run forward and attempted to
gat i.do one of them while it was in motion. No re-
gulation of any railway company could possibly revert
acts of this kind on the part of headstrong passengers,
and tie telt it due to the South-Eastern Company to
say that, as far as his experience went, he believed their
regulations were equal to those of any company in the
kingdom; they carried, he believed, over their Green-
wich branch, more passengers than any other railway in
the kingdom, especially at Easter and Whitsuntide, and
as far as he knew, he believed they had never before had
a tatal acement to a passenger upon their line. Mr.
Finnigan, the superintendent of the company, who was
in attendance, said it was quite true, they never had.
The jury expressed themselves satisfied, and returned a
ve iiet of Accidental Death.
THE CROTS IN THE NORTit.—POTATO DISEASE.
—ln the course of last week various rumours were in
circulation here about the appearance of the potato dis-
ease in several districts of the county. We have made
very minute and pretty extensive inquiries in the higher
and luwer districts of the county, and in some parts of
Banff and Aberdeen shires; and the only safe conclusion
at which we can arrive, fromtiat
l the numerous communica-
tions now before us, is,the disease had appeared
among some of the earlier sorts in in several quarters of
the county. The reports which
pear to have been considerably magnified;were in circulation tip-
and in some
eases where disease was reportedt' still doubtful
the report
whether the appearances which gave lisle'
were really che product of the fell malaodyor not.
Tbroughout ihe lower part of Morayshire, however,
mistakeable iiymptoms have appeared in several plotsunof
the white early kind, and also among some of the late
white kidney sort; hut at present it is not so extensive
as. to give rise to alarm.—Elyin Courier.
THE LIVERPOOL TRAGEDIES. The unfortunate
man Culkin, who murdered his two children in Oriel-
street, still lies at the Northern Hospital, and is favour-
ably progressing towards recovery. lie is very peaceable
and reserved in his demeanour, and speaks but little.
John Eager, the. person shot by his brother in Cunliffe-
street, also progresses well. Of course neither of the
cases can be tried at the present assizes.—Liverpool
Mercury.
The value of three things are justly appreciated by
three classes of persons. The value of youth by the old,
0.4 value of health by the diseased, the value of wealth
the needy.—. Eliza Cook's Journal