The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-29 00:00:00

THE lONIAN ISLANDS.

CORFU, DEC. 20.
The excitement consequent on the arrival of Mr.
Gladstone in the " islands "—the expression used
here to designate Ithaca, Santa Maura, Cephalonia,
Zante, and Cerigo—has been wild, and the local
papers are filled with the most extravagant hallu-
cinations and philhellenistie theories, clothed in
the purest Hellenistic language. Here follows a
freo translation of one, and ex uno dine °nines :--
VOTE OF THE COUNCIL.

" Seeing that the independence, the self-government, and
nationality of every people is a natural and indisputable
right ;
" Seeing that the people of the Septinsular State, forming
an integral part of the Hellenic race, is deprived at the
present day of the de facto exercise and enjoyment of these
rights ;
" Seeing that the causes which led to their being placed
under the protection of Great Britain, in virtue of a treaty
to which they never gave any assent, no longer exist ;
" Seeing, lastly, that a portion of the Hellenic race to
which they belong, viz., free Greece, has obtained its right
of self-government and nationality.
" For all these reasons, the first free Council of the Dep-
uties of this island proclaims—
, " That the joint feeling, the fixeel and irrefragible desire
of the Septinsular people is the recovery of its independence
and its union with Greece.
" The present proclamation will be transmitted, by order
of the Council, to the protecting Power through the official
channel, so that it may be public to the rest of the European'
Powers for the guidance of their action.
" In the Council of the Deputies, Nov. 26, 1858 (Dec. 8)."
Then follow the signatures of the 11 self-consti-
tuted councillors.
Zante, the "Flower of the Levant," has loaded
its cannon beforehand —see their placard :
" Union of the lonian Islands with free Greece. Long
live Mr. Gladstone, the Philhellene.

"THE ZANTIOTS "
So Mr. Gladstone knows what he has to expect
from the flower of the Septinsular Republic.
In all this there is, no doubt, also much of the
panem ad circenses, and advocates greedy of place
have no doubt had some hand in the concoction of
these 'placards and documents. The patriots of
Cephalonia do not, nowever, equivocate, and have
met the Lord High Commissioner Extraordinary
with a loud and disloyal cry for union with Greece,
leaving aside all indirect agitation as too unim-
portant for the occasion.
An Attache of the British Embassy at Vienna
arrived here the day before yesterday, bearing
despatches for Mr. Gladstone and the Lord High
Commissioner. The following appeared the same
evening in the official Gazette of Corfu :
" Palace, Corfu, Dec. 18, 1858.
i 4 Highness,--I have thehonour to transmit to your High-
ness for your information and that of the Most Excellent
the Senate, the accompanying extract of a despatch which
I have received from her Majesty's Secretary of State for
the Colonial Department, in answer to the address and pro-
test, forwarded to him by the 10 representatives for Corfu,
and the five municipal officers of this island.
" I have the honour to be, Highness,
"Your most obedient humble servant, •
"JOHN YOUNG.
" His Highness Sir A. Damaschino, G.C.M.G.
President of the Senate, &c."
EXTRACT OF A DESPATCH ADDRESSED TO THE LORD
HIGH COMMISSIONER, BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE
FOR THE COLONIAL DEPARTMENT, DATED THE BTH OF
DECEMBER, 1858, No. 34.
" I have to acknowledge your despatches of the 25th and
29th of November, enclosing respectively an address from
the 10 representatives of the Island of Corfu and a protest
from the Municipality of Corfu on the subject of your con-
fidential despatch to Mr. Labouchere on the 10th of June,
1857, which obtained publication in the newspapers with-
out, as you are already aware, the sanction or privity ofthe
Government.
"The tenour of these• two documents is the same, and,
therefore, I shall confinemy observations to a single answer.
"You will inform the Ilepresentatives of Corfu and the
municipality of that island that I have received with regret
the addresses which they have sent to me through you. Her
Majesty's Government do not entertain the desire, as in-
deed they do not possess the power, to occupy Corfu and
Paxo as colonies under the British Crown. Nor does it
enter into the views of her Majesty's Government to appeal
to the Powers of Europa for an abrogation of the treaty
under which England has hitherto extended, and will ex-
tend, to the lonian Islands a protection which is required
for the interests of Europe, and which is far more effective
than any that could be afforded by the sovereignty of
Greece.

"There is, indeed, tw human system free from imperfec-
tion, and under every form of government grievances re
squiring redress may arise. If any such grievances now
exist to impede the satisfactory working of the lonian Con-
stitution, they need but to be temperately stated, and
rationally proved, to ensure on the part of her Majesty's
Government their best efforts within the circle of their
constitutional pewees to find a remedy or a solution for
them.

"In the mission of Mr. Gladstone to ths-lonian Islands
there occurs an opportunity from which I trust the lonians
will not suffer themselves to be diverted by visionary and
impracticable schemes.
"It is not within Mr. Gladstone's power to consider the