The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-08 00:00:00

PRIOR

THE lON/AN ISLANDS.

(From Ii Mediterraneo of March 10.)

" The proclamation of Sir Howard Douglas
convening the Parliament of the United States
of the lonian I.:thads has given rise to the follow-
ing reflections from our Correspondent at Zante."
(The address alluded to in the latter is that
wiiich was lately presented to the Queen by Dr.
Gaeta).

His Excellency Eir Howard Douglas has convoked for
the ttti► Li' March an extraordinary u•ecting of the seventh
Parbatter.% It will not excite surprise to say that this
news is nor a litre terrifying to the I :nian people, since
fatal experience allows them to augur no good from a❑ un-
[acted convocation of a body .sbict► has lost their confi-
dence. Numerous conjectures are formed on the subject,
among which the most probable one appears that the Cocks
are to be put into temporary execution. If this conjecture
be true, what fresh misfortune will not fall upon the
lonian ueople, and with what new shame will not the un-
blushing seventh Parliament be covered.

While a number of cif zens groan in dungeons, and others
have been barged and gu►llo►ined by virtue of a transitory
penal law, that is to say, a law which exists to-day and to-
morrow may be no long rin force, the lonians must now
sec not only their personal safety, but tlie;r property and
their comn:e•ce subject to the regulation; of a transitory law.
The criminal, cbil, and commercial codes put into tem-
porary execution ! Oil this monstrous, unheard of example
in the /meals of legislation could never be seen but in the
lonian St:to. But were not these same codes passed by ac-
clamation a short time ago by this said assembly? Toe
world was thunderstruck to perceive that a nation was
shortly to be governed by laws unexamined, undiscusEed,
but adopted by acclamation, and great impatience was
shown for the appear ance of this master-piece of legisla-
tion. Does not acclamation imply the idea of a possible
perfeetioir?' What adverse destiny wilt then induce this
same assembly to retract their own work by giving tempo
rary force to those cotes which a few months ago they
passed with acclamation ?

If the Codes be put into farce provisionally, that is
by way of experiment, sooner or later they must be again
discussed, to acquire a definitive character, and thus the
Codes voted by acclamation and the seventh Parliament.
by the sery act of the same Parliament, Jail' be dote away
with, it Leing quite ctrtain that it would be a compro-
mising of the dignity of her Majesty's Government to re-
solve to continue any longer the existence of a Parliament
which in so many ways has brought upon itself disci edit.
ZaNTE, FEB. 10, 1841.—The Zacynthians shocked at
the charge brought by Sir H. Douglas against them, as
xell as the inhabitants of the other Islands, of disaffection
towards Great Britain, took advantage of the first oppor-
tunity to protest their attachment aid affection for the
English nation, by presenting an address of congratula-
tion on the happy event of the birth cf the first-born
daughter of her Majesty, their most gracious protectress,
in which address they petitioned for an improvement' cf
their political condition.

Never was there an address signed with greater readi-
ness and enthusiasm.' The citizens ran in crowds to affix
their signatures ti a paper which, though projected by
private individuals, was by them fully approved. And so
great was the throrg and the zeal that in the very short
space of live days, in a population of thirt)-five thousaci',
more thin nine thousand persons, among whom the first
were my Lord Metropolita and several in office, mani-
fested their attachment to the nation which protects them,
and the hopes of a better future.

The Government, however, enraged that the suppert-
ers of the opposition should know and leel their duties
better than itself, and perceiving at the same time that
her Majesty would read in that document an undeni-
able contradiction of the false assertions of Sir floaard,
prepared in haste a counter-address, which taking
away the request of improvement, and substitu-
ting declarations cf full satisfaction, with the actual condi-
tion a affairs, was nearly a copy of one which all the ci-
tizens had already signed. What, then, were the surprise
and attonisliment of all classes of people, to petc:i:e,
that breaking through all regard, the Government declared
itself so plainly the enemy of its own country, by endea-
vouring to interrupt in so unbecoming a manner the se:.-
timents of a spontaneous congratulation which ►he people
wished to offer to their Queen, and by placing itself in a
hostile attitude between an entire population and its exclu-
sive Protectress

The people evinced their indignation, and refused to
sign ; the Government acted shamefully, and venation.; be-
gan mose viclent and imprudent than ever. An acting
Justice of the Peace, Dr. &tonic) S!rsvopodi, brother-
in-law to the most excellent Regent, was sezn holding the
address, and smiling graciously upon the contending par-
ties, who were waiting the decision of their cause, requesting
them previously to affix their signatures. The Municipal
Officer of Provisions, Mr. Antonio Micalizzi, brother-it-
law a'so of the Regent, accompanied by Mr. Zav,andino,
a third brother-in-law of the same personage, was neea
running about the city, and obliging tavern-keepers, fish-
monger!, bekers, cheescmongers, &c., to sign it. Ttio,:e
who complied through fear were rewarded by an increase
of price on their vai iota articles, while the recusants were
subjectei to Les, and compelled to close their shops and
tavern,. Lastly, the quintessence cf dregs, the contrac-
tor for salt, whose despicable name our pm refuses to
trace, was seen with the address on his table, impudently
threatening to refuse a supply of that necessary article to
the poor countrimen who refused t.s subscribe their namcc.
By these and sitrilar means the disturber of public ord. r,
the designing exciter of scandaloui scenes, the present
Government, succeeded in adding to the sigaatures of the
police a very limited number of names, among which, to
the surpri e of none, again appeared first and foremost
those of my Lord Metropolita and the persons in office,
who the preceding day had spontaneously signed another
address on a similar subject, but of a different tendency.

The fAlowing letter, referring to the same subject, has
just Leon forwarded to us :
TO 7'HE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sfa,—Previously to quitting the lonian Islands, and
during this kind of interregnum, Sir Howard Douglas is
determined to give c iil further and indelible proofs of the
plenitude of his power. After having caused to be inserted
in the lonian Gazette, es a warning to the employ 6-, an
opinion a;triouted to Washington,* he ordered the Senate
to dismiss from their offices several persons of known in-
tegrity and talent, whose consciences would not permit
them to put their names to the Address which S r Howard
got up last year, as an expression of the gratitude
of the loi.ian people [aft_.r his warm eulogy tf them
in his despatch of the 10th April, 1840] for his pa-
ternal anxiety to promote the welfare of these States, and
as a declaration of their conviction that every charge
against such a benefactor is purely a machinati:A of ca-
lumny. Nor was this sufficient : he wanted to make cv,n
spiritual authority subservient to his purpose; consequently
the dignitaries of the Church, who, knoa iog the words of
the Aedrers to be unirm,, would not injure their chLricter
by attesting them with their signature, were made to feel
his wrath.

Such is the conduct of Sir Howard*Douglas in tio
lonian Islands, and of that which is required f, ern the em-
ployes, AS well as front the clergy themselves. Let it be
observed, also, that at the inauguration of the last Par-
liament, the employes were confirmed in their offices, and
h:ve, the,efore, a tight to enjoy the ads antiges arising
therefrom during the entire quinquennium.
Can it, then, be asseted that the citizens concurred
spontaneously in augmenting the number of signatures
affixed to addresses under such circumstances ? Is it not
evident that violence was done to the frcelom of opiNion.
and that such repeated acts corrupt the people, teachir.g
and authorizing them to prac:ise lying, and to attest, in
opposi:ian to their concienm, things which are not true?
Hence it is, that, restrained by tne unlimited power of
the police, the people cannot obey the impulse of their
will, even in seeking redress for but a portion of their
numerous grievances. It is for this reason that they dare
not, although privwely, give their signatures even on oc-
casims the most lawful and obligatory. If the people
wish to address an avowal of gratitude to their august
Protectress, unless the whole thing is under the direction
of the agents of the Government, to sign it is a c,irne,
and all who take part in the affair become, henceforth,
marked men.

The dismioals of which we have spoken are used also
for the purpose of intimidating those passive individuals
who readily yield to authors y ; as it is whispered that a
new address is to be prepared in favour of Sir Howard.
Sir Howard Douglas has, however, committed rather a
blunder by quoting the opinion of Washington. Every
body knows what principles that great man possessed and
supported, and what are the principles entertained by Sir
Howard, principles diametrically opposed to those of his
own country and Government, and leading him to invadui,
as absolute monarch, the constitutional powers of the
lonian Islands.

We may, therefore, rightfully conclude, that those whom
Sir Howard characterizes as enemies of the lonian Go-
vernment are, on ti,e contrary, the true friends of that
Government, rega►ding it in the light of its true constitu-
tional principles, and not in a spirit of despotism ; and that
Sir Howard, in persecuting all who retain a siegle spark
of liberalism, persecutes those who are net less the friends
of his own, tl.an of the lonian Government, such as it
ought to be.
I have the honour to be, yours. Sic.
Colonial Club, April 3, 1841. AN lONIAN.
• The opinion, said to be taken from a "Life of Washing-
ton," written by M. Guizor, the French Minister, is to the
following effect;—" Notice to Candidates for Office.—As long
as I shall have the honour of administering the Government,
I shall never confer any post, however small its importance, on
any man whose political principles are contrary to the measures
of the Government, as 1 am persuaded that a political suicide
would be committed by acting differently."

JOAN OF ARC, THE MAID OF ORLEANS.—
Mr. Serle's romance, so long announced, is at length on
the eve of publication. In choosing the admirable subject
of " Joan of Arc" for bis coup d'essai as a writer of prose
fiction, Mr. Serie has shown that union of boldness ar.d
judgment which has eharacterhed his b. at dramatic efforts.
There cannot be a finer theme, and we understand that
in order to treat it with the care it deserves, Mr. Serie
has visited every remarkable locality connected with its
chief events. Domremy, Neufehatcaii,
Nancy, Orleans,
Poitiers, Tours, Blois, Troyes, Chalons, Rheims, Corn_
peigne, Rouen ; these are but a few of the places through
which he has traced, step by step, her extraord!mry
career; and as it so happens that several of these citiel
are familiar with English tourists, the work will derive an
incidental interest from the recollections that it will call ur.
Lord John Russell will sojourn, during the ,
Easter recese, at the Duke of Bedford's beautiful cottaga at
Endsleigh, near Tavistock,