The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-14 00:00:00

lONIAN ISLANDS.

REMONSTRANCE OF THE ELECTORS OF
CEPHALONIA.
TO THE RIGHT HON, LORD J. RUSSELL, HER BRITANNIC
MAJESTY'S SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLO-

NIAL DEPARTMENT. •
The most valuable privilege of the lonian citizen,
comeyed to him by that Constitution to which the So-
vereign Protector affixed his sanction, has been violated,
and the undersigned electors have been grossly insulted
by the Commission appointed to preside over the elec-
toral body of Cephalonia, consisting of the Most Ex-
cellent Signore Count Camillo dalla Decima, Regent ;
Signore Spiridiono Anino Cavalierato, his Secretary ;
and Signore Dr. Anastasio Fipaldo Xidian, Advocate
Fiscal.
Ought they to submit their grievances to the Senate,
or must they wait unt:l the meeting of the Legislative
Assembly, and present their remonstrance to it ? Exist-
ing circumstances do not permit this delay ; availing
themselves, therefore, of the right granted by article
8, section 7, chripter 7, of the Constitutional Charter,
they address you, my Lord, supplicating your Lordship
to lay this representation at the feet of her august Ma-
jesty the Queen, who, magnanimous as she is, will
not disdain to listen to the complaints of respectable
Cfzens, whose most sacred constitutional rights have
been iufringed.
No election of r prasentatives ought to have taken
place, since the legal period had not expired, nor had
the death of any member made an opening for a sub-
stitution ; nevertheless, an occasion for a new election
was to be cre itcd. Tice Count Demetrio della Deci-
ma, relieved from his seat as member of the Supreme
Council of Justice, found little difficulty in bringing
about the resignation of the Secretary of the Regency ;
he was the Regent's brother-in-law, and his place was
given to r member of the Assembly. There near es-
laced a necessity for filling up the vacancy thus artfully
created, and for that purpose Count Demetrio della
Decima and Dr. Rocco Pillarino were nominated can-
didates. We pass over in silence, as not necessary to
be here noticed, the it egality of the proceedings on this
occasion, in as far as regards the removal of the legis-
lator and the qualifications and conditions of the nomi-
nated candidates, rind wi:l merely speak of the illegal
transactions which occurred at the election.
The election took place on Jan. 15,1841.
The voting had scarcely commenced when several
electors observing many instances of illegality in the
proceedings, and relying on the rights they had ac-
quired by the Constitutional Charter of these islands,
made known the malpractices to the commission ap-
pointed to preside at the Electoral College.
The commission, far from listening to the complaints
of the electors, when verbally stated, or, at least, reject-
ing them as if they had been taken into judicial con-
sidcratiou, always passed them over in the minutes,
and, in open violation of the law, declared that it was
not intended to hear or receive instances of any kind
whatever, either verbal or written, of errors which bad
occurred ; thus refusing to pay attention to those pre-
sented by any of the electors. In this way all were
reduced to silence. _

For the wrong thus done to the most respectable
body of the State, from which all authority emanates,
the undersigned solemnly demand redress.
In the hope that your Lordship may be pleased to
obtain for them that redress to which they may be
found to be entitled, the undersigned take the liberty
of submitting the complaints which were made by them
against the said election, and also other illegalities
which occurred in the proceedings.
They observe—l. That according to article 23d of
sec. 1, chap. 3, of the Constitutional Charter, every
operation connected with an election must be decided
upon by the majority of the votes of the assembled
electors, given viva voce.

2. That according to paragraph 2, article 36, title 2,
of the constitution of 1803, which is maintained in
force by article 18, cap. 3, section 1, of the present
constitution, in what relates to electoral organisation,
his Excellency Coui. t Camillo della Decline, Regent of
Cephalonia, and brother of one of the candidates,
ought to have resigned the chair of president of the
college to some other person. if this article prohibits
relations of a candidate, to the fourth degree, from
being present at the polling, with much more reason
should any such relation be disqualified from presiding
over the Electoral College.
3. The college ought to be held illegal, since there
had not been posted up, according to custom, the li,t of
voters, in order that every elector might have the op-
portunity of bringing forward his objections, as the law
has provided, in the case of rights of the electors being
infringed by the insertion in the list of persons not pos-
sessing the requisite legal qualifications.
4. That the number of electors required to form a
legal college should consist of at least one-half of the
totality of the electors, according to Art. 23, chap. 3,
sac. 1, of the Constitutional Charter.
5. Tint procurations granted for the purpose of en-
abling an elector to vote in the stead of another who
is absent ought not to be admitted, it being enacted by
Art. 23, chap. 3, sec. 1, of the Constitutional Charter,
" That every electoral proceeding shall be decided upon
by the majority of votes given viva voce ;" and the prin-
cipal proceeding in an election being the polling, it is
not possible to maintain that a procuration is then ca-
pable of supplying the place of a viva voce vote.
Numerous, my Lord, aro the illegalities which oc-
curred in the election of Count Demetrio dalldDecima,
besides those already observed ; of 427 voters, there were
absent about 200, regarded, on the authority of medical
certificates, as patient. Thus the extraordinary phe-
nomenon might be supposed to have been exhibited,
that out of 427 electors one-half cycle sick, as if as epi-
demic disease had prevailed in the country.
May her Majesty the Queen be pleased to order an
inquiry ; and, should it be thought fit to grant this
request, the facts stated will be irrefragably proved by
respectableApartf
roemlect
htoersv,ioalnadtiopnerosfonisadwiovridthuyalofriegnhttigr,etchreedit
in-
sult given to the electoral body is a serious offence
against the public, and the undersigned expect signal
redress from the justice of her Majesty.
(The signatures follow.)

CHURCH-RATES.—At St. Ives, on Thursday
next, 400 gentlemen, who resisted the Church-rate, will
dine together to celebrate their triumph. In the rural
parish of Headcorn, where a rate was a short time ago re-
fused, citations have been served, calling upon the church-
wardens and all the parishioners to appear in the Consis-
j shouldt
oo
kr
Harris,
.
the
meet oßni
nlndependentßingwood,
Thursdayvando d make
a ikn e next,minister,
ac m put sor
h i showhrwe.
ra,astteha
.0 cans~fTeß wi:
d.
iwsa ?fly e they
..sg, onr
gocede
summoned before the Magistrates, when he dietincti;
stated to their Worships that he did not intend to ITT
the validity of the rate in the Ecclesiastical Court. Aia
order for payment was in consequence made upon him
yet, notwithstanding this, he has been served with three
citations, the first two having been found to be informal I
equalledilsnt
uc.inrsedaaas.YFe Family
mi i y
This, by the way, from the Consistory Court of Winches-
ter 1 At Llanelly, a threepenny rate having been pre-
' posed, the opponents of Church-rates contented them-
selves with carr}iag a penny rate. This we regret in a
parish which has so often resisted the granting of any rate ,
end we regret it the more, because it appears to have pro -
ceeded from a misapprehension of the recent judgment of
Lord Chief Justice Tindal. In that judgment nothing
was decided, but that the churchwardens cou!d not of
thomvbei make a rate.—Patrini.
" The British Queen and Statesnzan," which
week, has, we understand, procured for itself an
was published for the first tithe
nitociuetlreniinoottit
Journal, and is conducted upon truly national,
ofn t
heet circulation i
space
n do
of
at i
adlee degree
was presented to its
10181, and independent principles,
work of art ; and its
pMosthasro pGiroitevatecorirosbuesiel
anMajesty,
cweel
iunderstand,
dwahsi cali
The splendid Portrait
determined upon
striking off an additional number for the e gratification ok
these who could in t procure cnpies of
week. Portraits of Prince Albert,
spirited readers,iiret er d
them on Su!ldat
John Russell, Sir R. Peel, i Lord Melbourne, Lords
Mehemet Ali, Commodore
Napier, and other distinguished personages,
are announced
as being in a state cf preparation. The advertisements
amounted to no less th nine .an columns, and proved, by
their number, th,t it is only necessary to conduct a Journal.
upon pure, exalt-d, and independent p•
rinciples, in order to•
of
public. command the support Literature, andi
Music, and rise
Arts, and the most recent discoveries in,
Science aid Art, form distinguished features of " They
British Queen," and ve evidently written by gentlemen
intimately acquainted with the sutjects upon which they
write. . .

SLAVE TRADE.—We understand that a mer-
chant of Hamburgh considers himself very much aggrieved
bt
he coast
y t h eof Guinea,
seizure ot the Echoowing, a
tradings
isalleged, b
i e vessel, his
yhe English
captors, property,
g ib offsuht
captors, to its having been engaged in the slave-trade.
The motives for suspicion are said to have been strong
the owner asserts that be has ample proof of 'the illegality
of the capture, and the matter therefore is likely to lie
brought under the cognizance of the proper authorities. It
may be safely asserted that the honest efforts of the British
nation to abate the horrors of the traffic in human beings,
and which concerns the honour and humanity of the world
at large, as much as it does us, have brought' on us more
and embarrassment from Foreign powers !4an
alma any other affair,