The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-09 00:00:00

THE lONIAN ISLANDS.

The announcement that Mr. Gladstone will pro-
ceed to the lonian Islands in order to investigate
the political condition of that dependency of the
British Crown is pretty generally remarked upon by
the continental journals. What new events, it is
asked, have cccurred obliging the Fesence of a spe-
cial envoy at Corfu ? I will give you the best infor-
mation I can obtain on the subject. Some ten years
ago, or a little more, a constitution was accorded to
the lonians, in order that they might not be in a less
free condition that their brothers of continental
Greece. This constitution placed the government
of the domestic affairs of the lonians in their own
hands in the form of a Parliament elected by uni-
versal suffrage. When the constitution was pro-
mulgated there was much rejoicing, and the lonians
thought themselves better off than if they received
their sovereign authority from Athens. The Par-
liamentary Government was conducted with more or
less success until the Queen of Greece and the
Greek Government, inspired by Russia, revived a
sentiment for Greeknationality, and this about the
time when Russia advanced into the Danubian
Principalities. Agents left Athens for Candia and
the lonian Islands, to excite the Greek population
to join in a proposed war on Turkish or British
ground—wherever, in fact, the population was by
religion and language Greek. To. such an extent
was this feeling universal that it was feared the
whole of the Greek population of the East would
eventually be engaged in invading Turkish ground,
backed by King Otho and what was understood to
be the patriotism of the classical Hellenes. France
and England then at war with Russia, were not
slow to discover what Power was exciting the
Greek Court to create a diversion, and it became a
question whether the treason of King Otho (or rather
the Queen) shotild not be punished by depriving
him of his throne. At all events it was necessary to
send an army to Greece ix order to prevent the
Greeks from revolutionising the Turkish frontiers
and Candia and the lonian Islands. An Anglo-
French force, as all the worldknows, was encamped
many months near Athens, and eventually retired
without even obliging a change of Ministry. The
Athenian Court and Government was put on its
good behaviour, and England and France satisfied
with promises to behave better in the future. From
that day the real patriotic party in Greece, who
looked to England as the mother and guardian of
their modern freedom, became the persecuted vic-
tims of the Court, and gradually the Chambers
and Senate of the Greek nation have lost all go-
verning influence and power. These retrospec-
tive events must be recorded in order to under-
stand the sedition of the lonian Parliament.
There are some hundred men of the lonian Parlia-
ment, generally poor, and open to foreign intrigue,
who haive been taught to believe that England, the
country which made modern Greece, is the enemy of
" a universal Greek nationality and independence."
These men have, more particularly since the Russian
war, employed their time in denouncing British
authority, and abusing England and the English in
the lonian journals, thus creating hatred towards
her Majesty's authority, and rendering civil rule
almost impossible. I will now tell you what I be-
'ieve to be one of the main secret causes of this

rebellious action. The President of the lonian
Chambers, Count Roma, Gen. Metaxa, and M.
Michael Sontzo, are all said to be employed by
Russia, through the Greek Government, to revive
what is called the patriotism of the lonian Greeks.
The means employed are perhaps known to her
Majesty's agents at Corfu; and from such sources,
if I am correctly informed, this discontent of the
Parliament is fed. Mr. Gladstone is a man of the
most severe integrity ; conscientious to a fault,
patient, investigating, and slow to arrive at conclu-
sions. When he gets to Corfu all these qualities
will be employed to ascertain if the lonians have
any real grievances. He will probably at length
find that the Home Government has given the
lonians material for a freedom and prosperity far
greater than that possessed by any other group of
the classical family whose ancient glory has lately
received so graceful a tribute from his own accom-
plished mind. He will perhaps further ascertain
that foreign agency, working on ignorance and in-
digence, has deprived the people of the advantages
which their late political freedom might have
bestowed. On the other hand, if those who know
the character and condition of the lonians inform
me correctly, there is a party, and that composed
of the most respectable portion of the inhabitants,
who are more alive to their real interests, and
discover under the mild authority of the British
Crown more guarantees for freedom and prosperity
than could be hoped for if they were ruled fran2
Athens. Around the Acropolis they find a Court
devoted to Russia, and a constitutional government
as silent and lifeless as the classic marble which
strews the land where lie buried those patriots who
but a few years ago fought for the freedom which
the Bavarian King has slowly followed out with
intrigue, and made an empty mockery. If such
prove a correct picture of the political scene which
awaits Mr. Gladstone, it will be found necessary to
revise the constitution, and place the administration
of affairs in the hands of a restricted and wiser
assembly. Instead of going to the lonian Islands,
perhaps Mr. Gladstone would have found the evils
he seeks to unmask more readily at St. Petersburg
and Athens.—Paris Correspondent of the Morning
Post.

THE HIGHEST RAILWAY IN THE

WORLD,

The Pabellon and Chanarcillo extension of the
Copiapo Railway in Chili is so far advanced that a
trial trip has :been made on twelve miles, by Mr.
Jaggert, the superintendent of locomotives. The
engines, with a pressure of 1001bs. to the inch,
easily moved round curves of 500 feet radius, and
surmounted inclines some of which have a gradient
of 170 to 324 feet in the mile, and at length reached
the terminus, which is at an elevation of 4,075 feet
above the level of the sea—a less height, of course,
than that to which Trevethick worked the sta-
tionary engine in Pasco, but said to be 1,000 feet
higher than any other locomotive has reached.
Doubtless the great engineer, when traversing the
Andes, contemplated the day when the locomotive
engine which he had invented—and George Stephen-
son was then studying in England—would be em-
ployed to,pass the gorges of the Cordillera, where
the llama is now the only beast of burden. We
know that Trevethick did contemplate the appli-
cation of the railway on this coast, and proposed,
soon after his return, a railway to work some
of the rich copper deposits of Alacama—a result
which is now realised. The value of the railway
for crossing the snow-bound passes of the Andes,
and uniting the coasts with the verdant plains and
pampas of the inland, can scarcely be estimated,
and it will be the greatest means for making profit-
able the resources of the rich desert of Atacama.
The Copiapo Railway is the only one in the world
that has paid quarterly dividends, and other rail-
ways are in progress, or projected to work the
Coquimbo, Huasco, and Chanarcillo districts
in Chili. It is said that the summit level
of the Copiapo extension is higher than
the only one in the world—that of the Great
Indian Peninsular Railway for traversing the
Western Ghauts. The Bore Ghaut incline is
one of the grandest works in the world. The sum
mit of the Scemmering Pass, on the Vienna and
Trieste Railway—the highest in Europe—is about
3,000 feet above the level of the sea. The highest
summit in North America is the pass of the Blue
Maintains, by the Baltimore and Ohio Railway,
about 2,700 feet high. As the Valparaiso and San-
tiago Railway only crosses' the Cordilleras de la
Cuesta, it does not reach the elevation of the
Copiapo Railway. The eleVation of 4,075 feet is
not, however, the topmost height of the Copiall°
Railway, for when the extension is completed
two miles further, it will have reached 4,479
feet above the level of the Pacific. Some of the
extension lines from Rio Janeiro cross the Sierra
das Orgaes, and in time they will reach the moun-
tain regions of Minas Goraes, but at present the
railway in
Copiapo Railway has the claim of being the highest ,
-the South American continent. The
opening of this line is not a mere curiosity, but it
is a useful example for the promotion of other
undertakings. Thus, for instance, in Chili itself it
will 'encourage the prosecution of the grand line
projected to unite Santiago and Valparaiso with
Buenos Ayres, by way of Rosario, and of which pal
of the system is completed, or in progress, an
the rest surveyed. It promises likewise the
continuation of the railway system of the Brazil*
from the coast to the inner feeders of the Amazon
and the Plata. It is likewise a fact in favour of
the many railways which are projected, and Will
be executed, from the Atlantic shore to California,
traversing the Rocky Mountains, from Halifax to
English Columbia. These summit levels teach
engineers greater daring ; and the Alps, Cordilleras;
and Ghauts, even the mighty Himalaya itself, IvilL
no longer be considered bounds to the railwaX
system.. The summit of the Northern Beng
Railway at Darjeeling is as high as that ofte
Copiapo Railway.—Building News.

M. Coste, so well known in connexion with the
artificial breeding of fish, went a few days ago to the coa
near Brest to examine thu experiments niide under b.°
direction for the breeding, of oysters. He found that tlief
experiments have su.cteeded .beyond expectation.' some
the fascines which had been thrown down some time
were, when e
raised, t literally covered with little oysters/ Jul__
the whole coast to Granville and Cancale is, so to speak, Tth_
bedded with them. The fishermen
M , having thougla
success of M. Coste impossible, were quite astonished., IT:
of the fascines coveredwith oysters was carried away to,
shown to the Emperors his Majesty taking great
the experiments. interest