Star.
London, England, 1823-04-24 00:00:00

CAUSE OF THE GREEKS.

The Committee of the Society of Friends for the relief of the
Greek Refugees has received the following statement of facts
relative 'to the Greek Revolution, from one of the most re-
spectable inhabitants of Scio, who escaped the massacre, and
is now at Leghorn. The Letter is dated Bth of March, 1823.
The revolution of Greece, contrary to what the
friends of the Turks are endeavouring to prove to
Europe, had no relation at all with what has hap-
pened nth Spaint at Naples, in Portugal, and Pied-
mont. This revolution, which has been -so much
censnred by the partisans of the Tut ks, however just,
and although the Turkish Government itself had
long been paving the way for it, and it might be
said to have been the effect of necessity, would not
have taken place, if the Turk, had not fomented it
by measures which were as violent as they were in-
human. The Greeks sheaved unexampled patience
daring forty years, under the iron sceptre of the most
cruel of tyrants, I f that Ali Pacha of Janina and his
sons, who never knew how to respect the life, ho-
nour, or property of the inhabitants of those beauti-
ful countries. Our holy religion was their only con-
solation in their sufferings, and all their hopes were
centred in that Atutannt BEING who is a supreme
arbitrator of the fate of nations. Feeble, poor, dis-
armed, dispersed among the Turks, who were supe-
rior to them in numbers and strength, the Greeks
would still have preferred suffering to running the
risk of everything, if an unforeseen and unexpected
accident had not precipitated them into that unhappy
war, which they were forced to continue under the
terrible alternative of being exterminated, if they
abandoned their arms. Some emigrant Greeks in
Europe, who possessed nothing in Greece, and who
consequently had nothing to lose in a revolution,
formed a secret society, and determined on the pro.
ject of attacking by their feeble means such a colos-
sal government as that of the Turks, which has re-
' sisted so many repeated shocks from the great Powers
of Europe. We cannot conkcatre whether these
guilty contrivers expected the protection of some fo-
reign Power or not, but it is certain that the Prince
Ypsilanti, who was the chief of these adventurers, had
only a handful of .men when he entered the territory I
of Moldavia, and that romantic proclamations were
his sole resource; and it is certain further, that by
such means, and the a;;ents without credit who were
sent by the society among the Greeks to induce them
to revolt, they would have done nothing, and the
tranquillity of the Turkish empire would not have
been disturbed, if that Government had paid atten-
tion to the formal and sincere protestations of the Pa-
triarch of Constantinople, a Prelate respectable both
for his virtues and his knowledge, and to those of
the Holy College of. Archbishops, and the Nobility of
Constantinople, who unanimously disapproved of
this revolution, formed and undertaken without the
knowled e of the nation which was to support it.
1
But the surkish Government, deaf to the voice of
truth, a opted violent and impolitic measures, the
offspring of its blindness. The ignominious death of
the Patriarch, that of many of the Archbishops, Pre-
lates, and of a great number of persons of Constan-
tinople, distinguished both by their rank and fortune,
WAi the consequence of its fanaticism, and a proof to
the Greeks that their safety depended solely on their
resistance.
The Islanders were the first to hear of these disas-
ters, and it was the islanders who first raised the
standard of the Cross in their merchant vessels, which
were all_ at once, as if by enchantment, transformed
into ships of war. At the same time, the Pelopon-
nesians, who were endeavouring to stop the revolu-
tion in their peninsula, and to drive out of their coun-
try the agents of Ypsilanti, hearing with astonish-
ment that fourteen Bishops and twenty-four Primates,
who were come to 'fripolitza, the capital of the
Morea, to concert with the Lieutenant of the Pacha
and the principal Turks upon the measures to be
taken to maintain tranquillity in these countries,
aseie thrown into dismal prisons, and that hostilities
were begun at Patras by the Turks, the Peloponne-
sians had no other alternative than that of taking up
arms, or of running the risk of being exterminated if
they remained in a state of inaetivity, The Greeks
of the continent hesitated for a long time to imitate
their neighbours the • Peloponnesians; but the. bad
faith of the Turkish Government, and the infamous
machinations which they employed to disarm and
surprise them, forced ahem also to. have recourse to
arms, and to unite in the common cause with their
countrymen, who had already besieged the Turks in
the fortresses of the Morea. Hence it is plain that
the revolution which has been attributed to the Greeks,
was in effect brought about by the Tut ks themselves,
and that nothing remained for the Greeks but to take
up arms, or submit to be massacred, or reduced to
slavery and sold into Asia, as has lately been the
case with the unfortunate inhabitants of the island of
Scio, those of Cassandra and Aivaly, as well as with
those of Cyprus and Niagousta in Macedonia.
The Greeks, after having protested their innocence
and called upon GOD as a witness of their declara-
tion, took up arms to defend their lives, those of
their wives add children, as well as their altars and
the tombs of their fathers ; and as their cause was

.
juo and holy, GOD has protected them n all their
unaertakings by sea and by land, notwithstanding
the superiority of the Turkish forces, and the assist;
ance which Christian Europe has given to the fol-
lowers of Mahomet, in thus subjecting justice, religion,
the morality of the Gospel, and honour, to a policy
as false as it is criminal. •
The soi dismal neutrality declared at.Layhach
never took place, and it was only used to deceive the
eyes of the Public, for orders were given at the same
time that all the sea-ports of &tripe should be
dosed to the Greeks, and opened-to the Turks, mer-
chant-vessels were sent with provisions; and escorted
by ships of war to Mussulmen, the blockade of the
Greeks was forced, and they were treated as rebels.

But what is the object of the European Cabinets ?
Is it to make of the most beautiful country of Europe
a new Africa? And how is it possible to reconcile this
idea with the pains that are taken to abolish the Slave
Trade, and to propagate elsewhere that same Chris-
tian religion which has been attacked in Europe ? Is
it from a fear that Russia would become mistress of
those countries that Europe has acted in this incon-
ceivable manner? But it is more easy for Russia to
take possession of a desert country, than of a coun-
try well peopled, from whose inhabitants she might
expect resistance. The Sea and the Danube furnih
her with facilities for supplying her armies with pro-
visions ; the Asiatic Turks would pass into Asia, their
country ; and thus Russia, mistress of a country with-
out inhabitants, would unite it to her dominions; she
would call the subjects of those very Powers who
now resist her, to people that country in spite of
themselves; and in giving them her laws, she would
make this part of the Turkish Empire a new Russia.
This is not improbable, for Russia entirely agrees,
with respect to the Greeks, with the Sovereigns, her
allies, and contemplates the ruin of the Greeks, her
fellow-professors in religion,, with the greatest in-
difference. Such is the origin of the misfortunes of
the Greeks, and such is the conduct of Christian
Europe towards them. If war be a scourge, if the
glory which is attached to it be false, the war of the
Greeks is so just, that every Christian might promote
it, persuaded that he will find another hlelchisedec
to bless him, in the name of the NIOST [twit, as the
Patriarch Abraham did, when he was returning vic-
torious to his own house, after he had attacked the
aggressors of his nephew, Lot.
If any one should feel interested respecting the
affairs of the Greeks' we can assure them that they
begin to wear a most favourable aspect. The Turkish
fleet has returned to the Dardanelles in very bad con-
dition, after having lost two Admital ships, and
many others of the second rank. The army of the
enemy which had entered Peloponnc-ms, reduced to
a mere trifle, is besieged at Corinth, and, perhaps,
at this moment in the power of the Greeks. Two
expeditions, which were undertaken to succour it,
have failed, owing to the resistance they rnet avith
horn the troops of Eastern Greece, and been obliged
to return, after having suffered considerable loss. In
‘Vestern Greece, the great Albana-Turkish expedi-
tion, the object of which was to take possession of
two cities of Etolia, Missolongi and Anatolia, has been
defeated, and can only save itself by a capitulation.
Napoli di Romania must have yielded to the bravery
of the Peloponnesian besiegers, who took the citadel
by main force, and who, shewing a praise-worthy
and Christian moderation, left the Turks at liheity to
go where they pleased..
After all, the projects of the Greeks are confined
to remain upon the defensive at home, and to repulse
the enemy as often as he comes to attack them. •
Pecuniary assistance is absolutely necessary. Happy
would the Greeks be, could they obtain a loan, it
Europe would listen to the voice of justice and huma-
nity, and change her conduct towards them, as the
British Government has begun to do; to whom the
Greek nation, when rendered free and independent,
will shew her gratitude, as to -all the English nation.

TRIAL BY JURY, ONE 01 THE GLORIES OF THE BRI-
TISH EMPlRE.—Friday last, 'a party of Ladies and
Gentlemen were assembled at Yard House, in the pa-
rish of Godshill, the residence of BARNABAS BULL,
Esq. In the afternoon a tionap came to the house and
managed to steal from the generous host a bottle of
old crusted port wine; but not being sufficiently pri;
vate about it, was unfortunately detected. The whole
party became acquainted with the circumstance im-
mediately; and, as a motion was made by Mr.
BANKES last Wednesday evening in the House of
Commons, that Mr. CANNING and Mr. BROUGHAM be
taken into the custody of the Serjeant at Arms, so
this gentlemen was taken into custody and confined
for four hours in an attic. A Jury was then kn.
pannelled, and the prisoner brought down before ;
them ; and, on being asked if he were Grii/Iy or Not I,
Guilty? he pleaded Not Guilty. Witnesses were un-
media:ely called, and gave their evidence with so
much consistency, that the Jury, after a protraetel
and grave deliberation, pronounced him Guilty. Sen-
tence was then passed on him ; and after- they had
sufficiently punished him, he was discharged, and the
party proceeded to their former entertainments.—
Southampton County Chronicle:

APPEALS, TOM DECISION IN THE Helps OF Loans.
—Flom documents published by order of the Lords, it
appears that there is now business enough before that
House to occupy it for the next tea years, even sup-
posing another Appeal should not be lodged. In ten
years 570 Appeals had been presented, of which-867
had been decided ; 2425 remained for bearing--of
which 151 were Scotch Appeals, to be decided ac-
cording to the Scotch law. Besides those Appeals,
limit were 24 writs of error, several Peerages, &c. to
be dispatched—this is a " delaying," if not a 44 de-
nying of justice," and it is requisite that some step
should be adopted to secure the administration of jus-
tice to parties in Appeal and other causes. This busi-
ness is to be brought before the House on an early day,
by Lord Livsarooc, who is to move for a Committee.
They are to consider a plan that is to be submitted to
them, of appointing Commissioners to hear the Ap-
peals, one of them being selected from Scotland ; and
those Commissioners are to assemble, notwithstanding
any adjournment or sitting of the House of Lords.
The Scotch Appeals occasion the accumulatida .of
business, but, according to the Act of Union, they
must be heard in. England ; by the appoiotaseot of
Scotch and other Commissioners the bunions may be
diminished. The subject will b brought tweed in
a week or tea days— .