The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-17 00:00:00

THE GREEK QUESTION.

LORD PALMERSTON TO THE BRITISH
MINISTER AT ATHENS, SIR EDMUND
LYONS.

Foreign-office, Oct. 30.
Sir,—l have received your di;patch of the 4th
of October, No. 154, containing a copy of the
letter from the Minister for Foreign Affairs, in
which M. Glarakis renews the complaints of
the Greek Government, which reproaches Mr.
Saunders, the Consul of her Britannic Majesty at
Previsa, with having done wrong in protecting Ge-
neral Grivas. I desire you to inform M. Glarakis,
that according to the information received by her
Britannic Majesty's Government, the Greek Govern-
ment has no right to complain of the conduct of Mr.
Saunders in that affair; and that there is not the least
foundation for the assertion of M. Glarakis, that
General Grivas, whilst at Previsa, prepared for a
fresh attack against the Greek King and Govern-
ment. The fact is, General Grivas took no such
measures during his stay at Previsa, and no part of his
conduct indicated that such was his intention On the
contrary, the motives which prolonged his stay in that
city were the negotiations he had with the Turkish
authorities to decide in what city of the interion of the
Ottoman empire he and his companions would retire to;
when this was decided he left for Janina. M. Glarakis
would do well to abstain from accusations without
foundation against the Government of her Britannic
Majesty and its agents. He ought to be aware that
by such means it is impossible to render the relations
between the English and Greek Governments more
satisfactory for the Cabinet of Athens. As to Gene-
ral Grivas, his preceding conduct and his political
opinions are far from recommending him to the favour
of the Government of her Majesty the Queen; and if
the British Government has shown him any spark of
sympathy, it is solely because he has been the victim
of tyranny and injustice. In speaking of the unfortu-
nate events of Greece and its revolts, Mr. Glarakis
says, that the Hellenic Government has acted rightly,
sand intends to pursue precisely, the same course. Her
Majesty's Government has heard fhls declaration with
profound regret. The system which the Greek Go-
vernment has for some time pursued, and which he
asserts it intends to follow out, is a system of illega-

lity, violence, and corruption, of injustice and tyranny,
which disgusts and irritates the Greek Nation, and
wherever its agents have caused it to be felt, its natu-
ral consequences have been to produce a revolt. It
is remarkable that these revolts have been effected
by men, who were not of the opposition party, but
who were till very lately the supporters and the
favourite s of ministers, and employed by them as
the instruments of an iniquitous misgovernment. But
when those men began to experience the bitterness of
the oppressive system by virtue of which the Go-
vernment, with their aid, oppressed their fellow-
citizens, they took up arms to oppose a tyranny which
was insupportable. His Majesty's Government hoped
that this impious system would have ceased with the
life of the Minister, who, as the chief actor, was
generally considered as the author. But as M.
Glarakis now declares that he shall not deviate from
it, it is clear that this system has its source and is
actually preserved by other influences, equally hos-
tile to the welfare of Greece, and contrary to the
real interests of the King; it is, therefore, evident
that M. Glarakis is but a voluntary instrument
employed by those influences to set their disastrous
politics in motion to obtain their end. If the
Greek Government wishes to prevent inststrection,
maintain order and tranquility, and encourage in-
dustry in the kingdom, it certainly cannot be done •
by arbitrary imprisonments, by the pillage and de- •
solation of entire provinces, such as recently occurred
in Eubea. To maintain tranquillity in Greece, the
development and prosperity of the country can only
be secured by a different method than that pursued
latterly by the Greek Government. The law should
be honestly and impartially applied; the judges ought
to be independent of the caprices and the corruptpar-
tiality of the Ministers of the Crown. Justice should
be promptly and equally dispensed between citizen
and citizen, and between the Sovereign and his sub-
jects. The taxes should be equitably levied and
honestly expended. The public revenues should he
administered with integrity and economy for the
public service, and for the public service only. The
press should not be shackled by illegal prosecutions ;
the elections fur the municipalities, and the Members
of Parliament, ought to be free ; the Chamber of
Deputies ought not to call upon itself the ridicule of
the legislative assembly, by expelling all men who
are not disposed to blindly obey the orders of the
Ministers of the Clown. If the Greek Govern-
ment admitted that the Constitution was a reality,
if it respected the laws and compelled others to
do the same, if it guaranteed the safety of persons
and property, if it also encouraged industry, and
secured to every one thefruit of his labours and the pro-
duce of his capital—if, in a word, it administered
the affairs of Greece in the same manner in which
the Ministers of a constitutional king ought to fulfil
their high and important functions, free from foreign
and disastrous influences, and acting only for the
good of the country—the Greek Government would
soon see that there was no need to suppress insurrec•
tions in the interior, nor to follow, by diplomatic
communicetions with foreign Powers, the Greek fugi-
tives who have sought in another country an asylum
against the injustice and oppression which they hail
suffered in their own. You will present M. Glarakis
officially with a 'copy of this.

PALMERSTON.

To Sir Edmund Lyons, Athens.
This letter was delivered to M. Glarakis on the
16th November; the following day Sir Edmund
Lyons received the following :
Athens, Nov. 17, 1647.

Sir,—l have laid before his Majesty and the
Government the letter of the Chief Secretary of
State of her Britannic Majesty, in reply to the
three representations you have done me the honour
to communicate. By that letter Lord Palmerston
is not justified in refusing a complaint and a request.
His Lordship brings against the Greek Government
most serious accusations, as hard in form as unjust in
fact. It is not by one only of these accusations
which has its answer in the facts, in the actual con-
ditions of the works followed by the government of
his Majesty, but by numerous efforts, sincere and un-
fruitful, which have only proved the discussion was
at least useless. In this sad conviction his Majesty
the King has resolved to appeal, by an official com-
munication, to the evidence of Governments who are
not less exactly, nor faithfully informed than that of
her Britannic Majesty. In respect to the sympathy
which Lord Palmerston believes due to men whose
evil designs have forced them to seek a refuge in a
foreign country, it is an encouragement which the
rebels will not lose sight of, when giving reasons for
their revolt, as to the protection that they enjoy. It
will serve as a hope—as a promise to their accom-
plices ; and no one can see it in any other light than
as clangorous for the government of his Hellenic
Majesty.—l have the honour, &c.,
" G. GLA.RAKIS.
" Sir Ed. Lyons, Athens."