The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-15 00:00:00

districts each, for the distinct representation of the various
local interests. •
"8. That, with a view to economy and to efficiency, the
local Governments of some of the islands be as far as. pos •
sible consolidated.
"9. That public offices Cease to lapse of right at the end
of the quinquenniuin.
" 10. That further provision be made for the revision of
any part of the constitution when required.
Having explained the course of organic legislation on
which her Majesty. encourages you to enter, I will not now
proceed to,enlarge upon the general benefits which ought to
ensue from the amended construction of your Government.
Suffice it to say, there is much to be done ; and most of all,
perhaps, in that which constitutes the elementary and para-
mount duty of a popular chamber—the regulation of the
public taxes and expenditure. .
" The refdination of the taxes is urgently needed. Your
peasantry, sometimes exposed to pressure, pays an artificial
price for bread. Your chief products aro laden with heavy
duties on export. Burdens are not equally shared between
town and country, between producers and consumers.
" But you cannot effectually reform your taxes without
revising your expenditure. And here, too, the need is great.
For military protection you pay more lightly, if I reckon
aright, than almost any people in Europe; for your civil
government perhaps more heavily. It is not that the sala-
ries of your public functionaries are in general too . high,
but that .their number is disproportionate to the number of
the population and to the work to be done. The paid ser-
vants of the public, in all their classes, are above 2,200
among 240,000 inhabitants. Such a proportion equals or
exceeds even that of the army in other European States, to
the entire number of the population.
" This evil has been fostered by special causes ; neither
can it be cured in a day. The attempt to apply a too sharp
and sudden remedy would defeat itself by cruelty and in
justice to individuals, which provoke reaction, and thus
impede even wise and salutary change. The case demands
forethought and steadiness of purpose ; it also absolutely'
requires the aid of ministerial responsibility, which alone
can arbitrate aright between public economy and legitimate
personal interests.
" There are other sources from which savings may be
effected. When constitutional and stiaile government shall
have been developed in these islands the charge of their
public debt, while it exists, may be reduced. The circula-
of notes payable on demand ought to yield some profit to
the State. The management of roads, when placed under
executive instead of elective officers, may
,be conducted
much more cheaply. I may, in passing, observe that I
shall propose to you the re-organisation of dour municipal
and local governments ; and that I hope it may be found
practicable to liberate their ordinary proceedings from the
interference of the Protecting Power. To resume ; on the
part of that Power, I shall be ready to lead the way in the
work of economy, by proposing to take upon the reserved
civil list of the Lord High. Commissioner several charges
which have heretofore been defrayed out of the general
revenue. Nor shall I on returning to my own country,
forget to watch for an opportunity, when the state of Eng-
lish finance may render it practicable, to recommend, as far
as in me lies, the further reduction of the still heavy duty
duty of import upon currants, that great staple of the
southern islands. But, while, in regard to some finan-
cial improvements, I have thus ventured to offer
friendly counsels, I trust that all such matters will be
hereafter managed, under the action of improved institu-
tions, by your own sagacity and good sense.
" I need now detain you no longer on the particular topics
to which I have referred. Those of them which I have de-
scribed as essential will be brought under your notice forth-
with, in the form of resolutions ; and by means of a message,
since this is the vehicle specified in the Constitution. As to
their general seep:), gentlemen, these reformations may be
easily and briefly described. They are intended to secure to
you,, in the management of your internal affairs, the full ad-
vantage of a constitutional and a stable Government, better
guarantees for public rights, better adjustment of the influ-
ence of the respective classes of society, a more free career
in political life for the ability with which the country
abounds. They do not tend to complicate but to simplify
your relations with the Protecting Power. They create no
new bond between the two countries, except it be a new
bond of
goodwill. England proposes to you a law, and not
a contract. She asks from you nothing. Not a single point
is added to her powers.
" Reformations such' as these, in the ordinary course of
history, are demanded more frequently than offered; are
extorted by superior strength, more commonly ,han given
of free will. From divisions of opinion in these islands,
there has been left to the Crown of England the credit and
the grace of making this spontaneous tender, and of urging
its acceptance. Oil the part of my country, I feel the diffi-
culty, but I prize the honour. No impulse has prompted
her Majesty in her gracious offer, except the sentiment of
due benevolence towards the lonian people, and the convic-
tion that the reputation of England- is concerned in their
enjoying freedom, prosperity, and contentment, not merely
in a degree equal to that of neighbouring or kindred coun-
tries, but in the highest degree which it may be in her
power to procure.
" Her Majesty has now done her part, and the rest, Mr.
President and gentlemen, is in your hands.
" I entreat you to contradict, by the testimony of facts,
the imputations of those who declare that in these islands
the spirit of restless demagogism on the one hand, and the
inveterate traffic in place on the other, render good and free
government impracticable.
" Those official persons, for whose conduct the Protect-
ing Power is by the Constitution made virtually responsible ,
will, as such, co-operate in the effort on behalf of the
lonian people;' for England would not be justified, at such
a juncture, in neutralising any assistance which she can
command.

s"---",The efficacy, however, of that assistance must ultimately
depend, not on those who give, but on those who receive it.
If, then, you are a feeble State endeavour to be strong with
the strength of reason. Freedom must be freely accepted,
or the gift would be poisoned in the act of giving. You can
make this effort effectual ; you can also make it vain- You
can intercept the benefit on its way ; you can convert the
promise into a mockery. You can prolong or perpetuate the
reign of that legislative paralysis, of those administrative
abuses, respecting which, as the inevitable fruits of a still de-
fective system, youhave generally, andyecently, and eagerly,
and in terms of at least sufficient strength, complained. Of
that over which you have no power, I need only say that
having no power, you have no responsibility. Of that which
is now within your reach I shall have said enough whet I
remind you that here your responsibility is entire, and, fur-
ther, that the habits engendered by well-ordered freedom
for the present, form the only efficacious preparation for
the hidden contingencies of the future. I conclude, then,
with giving utterance to the prayer that the Almighty may
guide your counsels, and may forbid that the interest of the
lonian people should receive, in the crisis of its destinies,
and at the hands of its servants and sworn defenders, a
deadly wound.

"IV. E.. GLADSTONE.
"By command of his Excellency .
"G. F. BOWEN, Sec. to the L. H. Commissioner."

"Resolutions proposed to the Legislative Assembly.
"Mr. President and Gentlemen,
"It has appeared to the Protecting Sovereign that it is
expedient to provide by a new constitutional, act or hcis
for the purposes set forth in the following series of resolu-
tions :

" 1. That the. Civil Government of the lonian State
should henceforward consist of • .
. .
" A Presidency ;
"A Parliament, comprising a Legislative Senate and a
Legislative Assembly ;
"A President and Council of Ministers ; •
"And a Judicial AuthoritY, together with the neces-
sary subordinate officers.
"2. That, until further provision shall be made, the Pre-
sidency of the lonian State shall be held either by the Pre-
sident of the Council of Ministers, or by the Council in its
collective capacity.
"3. That the administrative powers of the Senate shall
in general pass into the hands of the Council of Ministers
collectively, or of the members thereof.
"4. While the Lord High Commissioner will appoint and
remove the Ministers, they will, in order to their due har-
mony with the Legislative body, hold office during pleasure
only ; and he shall be bound to remove them on a joint
address to that effect from the two Chambers.
" 5. That, with the exception of such heads as her Majesty
shall by Order in Council, within a time to be limited, de-
clare to be requisite for the discharge of her office as pro-
tecting Sovereign, all acts in which the Lord High Commis-
sioner now has sole authority shall be performed by him
only with the counter signature of a responsible Minister ;
and all acts in which he has now an authority concurrent
with the Senate, shall be done without his intervention by
the Council of Ministers, or a member thereof.
"6. That as to all new laws, it shall be sufficient, in lieu
of reciting therein the approval of the Lord High Commis-
' sioner, that there be substituted his simple visa, without
which they shall not take effect.
"7. That relegation under the powers of high police be
declared henceforward illegal.

8. That if an exceptional state of law shall at any time
hereafter be established in cases of actual or approaching
disturbance, it shall not continue after order shad have
been restored.

ihoadvaa. ••••••••
" 9. That when either Legislative Chamber shall pray her
Majesty to grant a judicial hearing of any complaint
against the Lord High Commissioner, for grave midver-
sation in the exercise of his office, said Chamber shall have
the right to send an agent to England to support such peti-
tion, and of its own authority to order payment of his
reasonable charges.
" 10. That the authority to pass iitti di Govern as at
present defined, be abolished.
" 11. That the Senate, divested wholly of its initiative
and executive powers, shall simply have a veto upon all
Bills for granting a civil list or budget and for raising
taxes, and a concurrent authority with the Assembly in
regard to all other Bills.
" 12. That the majority of the Senate be elected, for a
lengthened term, by a special constituency ' and that the
minor part be nominated by the Lord High Commissioner,
for the same term, with the concurrence of the Ministry,
from among persons qualified in a manner to be determined.
" 13. That the Assembly shall have exclusive power to
impose taxes, and to authorise public expenditure.
" 14. That, except as herein provided, no tax shall here-
after be imposed, and no outlay of public money authorised,
otherwise than upon the proposal of the Executive Govern-
ment, and to an amount not exceeding such proposal.
" 15. That the allowance to members of the two Cham-
bers for their needful expenses shall not exceed a daily
quota of - dollars in the Senate, and - dollars in the
Assembly, together with an allowance for the cost of
journies ; and that such daily allowance be not reckoned
for more than 60 days in any one year, unless a special act
of Parliament shall be passed for the purpose.
" 16. That the Assembly shall have the right to impeach
all official persons before the Senate, and of its own autho-
rity to order payment of the charges of such impeachment.
" 17. The Municipal and Local Government shall be re-
organised, the existing restraints upon their proceedings
shall be reconsidered, and they shall consist of paid execu-
tive officers, and of councillors serving gratuitously.
I introduce these resolutions to you in the form pre-
scribed by the seventh section of the seventh chapter of the
Constitution ; and I earnestly recommend them to your
By
Sec.commandtot h
eo fLho his Excellency,
gh
favourable consideration. " W. E. GLADSTONE.
Commissioner.
" Corfu, Feb. 5, 1859."
" G. F . BowEN,"

ANSWER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE LEGISLATIVE

ASSEMBLY.
64 Excellency,—The established usages and regulations