The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-05 00:00:00

FRANCE.

The following paragraph on the affairs of Swit-
serland is from the Napoleon :
t "The question at issue in Switzerland does not refer
to the refugees—it is particularly . Neufchatel which
Prussia claims. The rights of the King of Prussia have,
it is true, been acknowledged by treaties, but they
have not been guaranteed by these treaties, as
asserted in the circular of Baron de Schleit-
nitz. A revolution, moreover, has been accom-
plished at Neufchatel, and Prussia can only recover
her rights by force of arms. In that case the entire
confederation would support Neufchatel, and such a
quarrel might produce incalculable consequences. For
this reason we are persuaded that no Government would
have recourse to extreme measures for such an unim-
portant object. For, as we have already stated, France,
although animated by the most friendly feelings towards
the powers of Europe, would find herself constrained to
take a part, and Prussia is too enlightened to wish at the
present period to displease us."

GREECE.

----
The Courier d' Athenes of the 18th publishes the
following note, addressed by Mr. Wyse to M. Londos,
on the 9th ult. :
" The undersigned has the honour to announce to M.
Londos, that he has transmitted to the Bitish Govern-
ment a copy of the note addressed to him by M. Glarakis,
on the 17th (29th) Nov., 1849, in reply to th© note of
the undersigned, of the 19th July last, as well as others
of Sir Edmund Lyons, dated the 27th October,
1839, 23d Sept., 1841, 14th Sept., 1843, and 13th March,
1849, all of which contained representations to the
Greek Government on the subject of acts committed by
persons who pretended to be employed by that Govern-
ment on the islands Cervi and Sapienza, in violation of
the rights of sovereignty exercised over those islands by
the lonian state to which they belong.
"By a dispatch from Viscount Palmerston, principal
Secretary for Foreign Affairs, dated the 24th January,
1850, and received on the 7th instant, the undersigned
was enjoined to inform M. Londos, that previous to the
date of the note of M. Glarakis on the 17th (29th)
Nov. 1849, the British Government having seen the ne-
oessity of at once protecting the lonian territory against
a recurrence of proceedings so unjustifiable as those
which took place when the lonian prisoners were
set at liberty at Cervi in the month of February,
1849, had given orders for measures to be taken for the
removal of all foreign intruders, not being subjects of the
lopian state. And, in -.fact, taking into consideration
that the Geeek Governmenthas not only not replied for
several years to the different letters above mentioned,
but that it has ever denied their reception, M. Londos
cannot be surprised that the British Government should
at last feel the obligation of itself proceeding to defend
the rights confided to the protection of Great Britain.
"It results, however, at the present moment, from the
note of M. Glarakis, dated the 17th (29th) Nov., that,
persuaded that the principal stipulations by which the
extent of the territorial rights of the lonian state has
been defined and fixed, are found in the treaty concluded
in 1797 at Campo Formio between Austria and France,
as well as in those signed in 1699 and 1778 at Carlo-
witz
and Passarowitz between the Porte and Venice,
the Greek Government maintains that the lonian state
can only pretend to the islands which belonged to
Venice previous to 1683, the period at which the war
began which terminated with the treaty of Carlowitz.
" The undersigned has been directed to reply to M.
Londos that the title in virtue of which the lonian state
possesses the island of Cervi and Sapienza, as well as
the other small islands which are equally dependent
on the seven principal islands of the lonian
state is founded, not on the treaties of Campo For-
mio, Carlowitz, and Passarowitz, but rather upon the
treaty signed at Paris on the 5-.lt November, 1815, be-
tween Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia; and
that the only other treaty which Great Britain can re-
cognise to contain a description of the lonian State and '
its dependencies is that which was concluded in 1800 be-
tween Russia and the Porte, which describes the islands
in the following terms :
" ' The islands of Corfu, Zante, Cephalonia, Santa
Mauro, Ithaca, Paxov, and Cerigo, and all the large
and small islands, inhabited and uninhabited, situated
opposite the coasts of the Morea and Albania, which
have been detached from Vienna, and which have just
been conquered.'
"It is by virtue of the above-mentioned treaty and of
the special guarantee of Russia that the septinsular
republic was organized, and its constitntion esta-
blished, and that the supreme legislative body
of that republic undertook in 1804 to determine the
principal islands to which the smaller ones which are
particularly mentioned in the treaty of 1800 should be
particularly annexed. In consequence, the lonian legis-
lative body declared, by its act of the 22d of January,
1804, Ist, that the small islands of Strivoli, Marathc-
nisi, Peluso, Prentanove, Prodano, Sapienza, Porto-
Seliaari' Venetia, and all the others scattered about the
sea as far as Cape Gallo, should belong and should be
morally and politically united to the island of Zante.
2dly. That the small islands inhabited and uninhabited
of Cerigoto, Poro, Paretto, Dragonera, Cervi, and all
others between Cape S. Angelo and Caron, should belong
and should be morally and politically united to the
island of Cerigo.
"Thus when Great Britain, by virtue of the treaty of
1815, became the protector of the lonian State, it found
the island of Sapienza and Cervi united to Zante and
Cerigo by a formal and public act of the Septinsular Re-
public, and Great Britain is consequently bound to
maintain intact the state of the territorial possessions
of the lonian Islands such as it was when those islands
were committed to its charge by the trraey of 1815.
" The undersigned must further infirm the Greek
Government, that in 1819 the Porte, the incontestable
sovereign of the territory which now forms the kingdom
of Greece, formally joined the treaty of 1815, by an
act of ratification, signed at Constantinople on
the 24th April, 1819. It SCCIII3, however, that
the Greek Government pretends that Sapienza
and Cervi continued to be occupied by the Porte
until the period of the independence of Greece; that
those islands were occupied by the Greek Government
after that period, and that they are therefore included in
the territory assigned to the kingdom of Greece.
" The undersigned must declare in reply, that both
Sapienza and Cervi were inspected by the lonian
authorities in 1817, and found uninhabited, and that
when Sir Henry Ward, the present Lord High Com-
missioner of the lonian Islands, visited the same
islands in the course of the summer of 1849, the
former remained uninhabited, while in Cervi there
was only one house and 50 inhabitants scattered abroad
and living in temporary dwellings. But if subjects of
the Porte or of the King of Greece have ever occupied
either the one or the other of these islands, they
have in doing so committed an act of aggression
on the lonian territory. While to the assertion of
M. Glarakis, in which he invokes the treaty
which established the independence of Greece,
and axed the limits of that kingdom, the under-
signed begs to remind M. Londos that the insular limits
of Greece were defined by the protocol of the conference
held in London on the 3d of February, 1830, which
after having described a northern line of demarcation for
the continental portion of the Greek kingdom, and after
having established that ' all the territories and coun-
tries situated to the south of this lino shall continue to
form a part of the Ottoman empire,' concludes by enu-
merating and specifying the islands which ought to be-
song to the kingdom of Greece in the following terms:
....There shall equally belong to Greece the whole of
the island of Negropont, with the islands of Drablo and
-Skyro, and the islands fsrmerly known as the Cyclades,
comprising therein the island of Amorgo.' It is evident
therefore, that no island, except those which have been
thus specified, could ever be claimed by virtue of the
treaty as belonging to the kingdom of Greece.
" The undersigned has further been desired to declare
to M. Londos that the Greek Government is not au-
thorised by any treaty or existing public act to claim
the islands of Sapienza and Cervi, and that it is incontes-
tably proved by the treaties of 1815 and 1810, mentioned
above, as well as by the act of the Septinsular Republic
of 1814, that these two. i-lands belong to the lonian
State.
" In concluding this communication, the undersigned
can only point to the consideration and respect which
the British Government have shown towards that of
Greece, in the manner of treating this question; and
must express a fear that the British Government may
be much offended by the manner in which the Greek
Government has chosen to reply. In a pointed
expose, which the undersigned must consider,
though with great repugnance, as emanating from
the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Greco' it has been
sought to create the belief that the British Government
had neglected to take into consideration Mona.
Glarakis's note of the 17th and 29th November,
1849, and that it had peremptorily insisted on this
question being terminated at the same time with those
mentioned in the note which the undersigned addressed to
M. Londos on the sth (17th) of January, 1850, and the
British Government will be the more astonished at this be-
cause the undersigned had given the most particular care
to the note alluded to to confine his demand to the mere
reparation of the injustice and injuries inflicted in
Greece on English and lonian subjects, and to recal the
Greek Government (as had been done in several other
former occasions) in determining those claims in the note
of Sir E. Lyons to M. Colvoetroni dated the 6th De-
cember,:, 1848.
—an 839—and,
afterwould .
having
.be dfl useless,
erstth nellfi therefore,
nop.ethtot ob-
serveh„.. to3M9, M. Londos that
nthee
2.occupation.rstotfim,teheaunLtin.,e-
habited islands of Cervi and Sapienza does not con-
stitute 'an injustice or an injury inflicted in Greece
4:2?
_English, or lonian subjects,' and that the note of Sir
E. Lyons, dated the 6th December, 1848, does not ,
contain the slightest allusion to those islands ;
such an allusion would have been impossible, because
the note was entirely devoted to questions on which
representations had been submitted to the Greek Go-
vernment by order of the British Government,
, and because
at the period when itwas written noc mßurilti
British
i on what-
ever had been made by order of thert Govern-
menthad
with respect to the islands of CeGrevivearnndm Sapienza.
en
On the contrary, the British
waited with unexampled patience for a reply from the
Greek Government to the representations of the British
mission at Athens ; and it is only after the lapse of
nearly eleven years—the date of Sir E. Lyons' note
to Zographos was the 15th (27th) Octo-
' • Government enjoined
e A1...>"-- - >to Apidress a communication in its name
„,..ktt
rthe ..
to
ti.j '' ' ' --Greeli4overnment on the subject of the islands
b__g ' 'end Sapienza, and it was only seven months sub-
ree ~‘ ~.,-' ..--f.l - ,tOl ttrib e date of the after-mentioned note of the
l-4 L?lbeeniteler, 1848, that the undersigned wrote to M.
„Iss,
:vaids the note of the 19th July, and in which he de-
. ttevacuation of these islands.
" The undersigr el, &C.,
•
's (Signed) " Taos. WISE."
I regard to the occupation by British troops of
the islands of Cervi :tad Sapienza, lqr. WyseP on the J

12th Feb., addressed the following note to M. Thou-
vend, the French envoy :
" NOTE ADDRESSED BY XR. WYSE TO X. THOITVENEL,

DATED FEE. 12.

" The undersigned is anxious to remove the erroneous
impression under which M. Thouvenel wrote the note
addressed to me yesterday.
" The slightest perusal of the note which the un-
dersigned forwarded to the Grecian Government on
the 9th instant, will be sufficient to demonstrate
that Vice-Admiral Parker had no intention what-
ever Of taking possession of the Isles of Cervi and
Sapienza, nor even of using his forces in order to se-
parate those places from intercourse with the lonian
territory. On the contrary, it is expressly stated in that
note, that her Majesty's Government had given orders in
conformity with that intention before the date of the
letter written by M. Glarakis on the 17th (29th) of
November last, which is proved by the fact that the
Greek Government did not, during six years, either reply
to the representations of the British legation, or deny the
receipt of its letters; and that the execution of these
orders was suspended immediately that the Government
of Greece had broken its extraordinary silence.
" The before-mentioned note, which the undersigned
sent to the Grecian Government on the 9th inst., is con-
fined simply to answering that of M. Glarakis of
the 17th (29th) March, 1849, and to establish the right
of the lonian State to the isles in question. It makes no
demand whatever, and contains no reference to any
measures which would be undertaken. It merely sub-
mits the proofs of the right of the lonian State to the
consideration of the Hellenic Government.
"The undersigned is happy that he can so easily re-
move the error which appears to have caused so much
uneasiness to M. Thouvenel, and is glad of this occasion
to renew to the Ambassador of the French Republic
his high consideration.
(Signed) "THOS. WYSE."

THE MERCHANT SEAMEN'S BILL.
At a special meeting of the General Shipowners'
Society, held on Friday, the 22d of .February, to
determine on the course to be taken in reference to
the Mercantile Marine Bill, the following resolutions
were moved, seconded, and unanimously adopted :
".1. That while this committee recognise, and are
most anxious to fulfil, the obligation to aid every
reasonable effort for the improvement of the charac-
ter and condition of the masters, officers, and crews
of British merchant ships, they are satisfied that
compulsory legislative enactments for those purposes,
enforced by pecuniary penalties, should be adopted
with extreme caution, as inconsistent with the prin-
ciples on which commerce can alone be success-
fully conducted, and of doubtful efficacy even for the
object intended.
"2. That the British shipowner is exposed to
many harassing and vexatious impediments, and to
much injustice in carrying on his business, from the
operation of regulations now in the statute book
which imperatively call for amendment ; and that
in consequence of the unrestricted competi-
tion to which he is exposed by the repeal of the na-
vigation laws, with the shipping of all foreign
nations, it is of the last importance to the mainte-
nance of that competition that he- should, as far
as practicable, be released from interference in his
pursuits, and from all burdens and restrictions cf a
disqualifying character.
" 3. That the whole code of laws affecting maritime
commerce is, in the opinion of this committee, in a
most unsatisfactory, confused, and defective state ;
and that if any legislative action be taken thereon,
it should be undertaken in a comprehensive spirit,
embracing a searching revision and adaptation of
maritime laws and regulations to the existing position
of the navigation of the empire.
" 4. That the Mercantile Marine Bill, introduced
into Parliament by the Right Hon. Henry Labou-
chere, President of the Board of Trade, is entirely op-
posed to these painciples, containing no provisions
whatever for the relief of shipping, but imposing on
shipowners additional and harassing requirements,
enforced by pecuniary penalties, while its probable
effects in obtaining the benevolent objects contem-
plated are extremely doubtful.
" S. That a letter be therefore addressed to Mr.
Labouchere, urging the withdrawal of the Bill, and
the substitution of an extended and impartial inquiry
into the laws and regulations now in force relating
to British maritime commerce, with a view to conso-
lidation and simplification as far as practicable, and
to the establishment of a comprehensive and just
system of maritime law, control, and practice.
" Extracted by order of the committee,
" WM. BONAR, Secretary."