The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-07-06 00:00:00

in the

must fine L. ',nese wily infidel:, At they
not draw their necks from beneath my feet so easily.

" What say you to a Greek hunt
the Nubian, laughing low.
ness has been at the chase "

, noble master," said
It is long since your High-

" True ! and by the beard of my father it is good sport;
but I have hunted over these provinces so often, that now
the lazy rebels will not run ; they lie down beneath the
horses' feet at once ; it is wearisome to slaughter them
without a chase."

" But if your Highness would condescend to ride to-
wards the mountains, we might have noble sport. I know
a certain village, where they scarcely know the taste of
Turkish steel."

" Good ! good ! we should find 'them fresh and full of
fire then : 1 long for some such sport. Fehim, let all be
renfiv fnr n distant hunt at the hrpalc of .11,11 Galan

guide us to the spot, and I myself will_start the game.'

It-wa:s the feast of St. Nichola

Singing and dancing, tossing their red caps in the air, and
waking up the long-slumbering echoes with their joyous
voices, the peasant troop had already descended from the
cliff, and proceeded in all safety to traverse the flat table-
land on which their village stood. But it suffices of one
single moment, when it springs from the infinite, freighted
by destiny, to change the voice of gladness for the shriek
of terror, the tranquil happiness for deepest misery, and
the dream-haunted slumber for the cold lethargy of death!
Suddenly, from that gay, peaceful band, there rises one
spontaneous cry— •
" The Turks ! the Turks !—amaun ! amaun !"

It was no false alarm. Sweeping on towards them,
with their sabres glittering in the sun, appears a warlike
troop of stately Moslems. Side by side with the Bey of
Corinth, rides the terrible negro, Fehim, mounted on one
of the horses of Arnaout, so famed for their size and
strength, and holding in leash a number of those fierce
Macedonian hounds, whose incredible swiftness and cou-
rage, and savage fury when provoked, render thenra dan-
gerous and deadly foe to man. It may seem, that thus to
describe a " Greek hunt," or even to give so horrible a title
to the causeless and needless massacre it is intended to
express, can only be an unwarrantable exaggeration, or a
most unnecessary attempt to render still more striking the
miseries endured by the Hellenic people under the Mos-
lem rule. But such is by no means the case ; the name is
not an invention, but was currently in use among the
Turks, as defining most clearly an amusement to which
they were greatly addicted, whether from motives of re-
venge at any symptom of rebellion, as in the present case,
or from the mere craving for excitement and unnatural
thirst for blood. It consisted simply in going up with
their dogs and their horses to some quiet village, and giv-
ing chase to the wretched inhabitants as they fled before
them, till they had fairly run them down, and could mas-
sacre them at their leisure. But at least, we may hurry
over the recital, for it can profit little that we should dwell
on the details of a scene so revolting as to seem indeed
but the production of a diseased imagination, if ever one
single imagination could have conceived that human beings
could be systematically hunted down by their own fellow-
creatures.

Shrieking and imploring mercy, over the rocks the vic-
tims fled, whilst Kyamil Bey, his eye glaring with excite-
ment, led on the terrible band that followed them, shout-
ing in their unhallowed mirth. The women were for the
most part torn down by the dogs and speedily dispatched ;
the men afforded a more exciting sport, as, striving with
their peculiar swiftness of foot to outstrip the horses that
were thundering after them, they strained every nerve in
one wild effort to escape—au effort perfectly unavailing,
for, when they were not cut to pieces by, the sword, the
Moslems, all admirable marksmen, took aim at them with
their long tupheks, and brought them down at once. None
escaped; for although some, favoured by the quickly
deepening twilight, hid themselves amongst the rocks
and bushes, their fate was perhaps still more terrible than
that of the easier victims. who already lay stiff in their
blood, beyond the power of man to make them suffer
more—for, with the first dawn of light, they knew their
enemies would be astir, to track out with the bloodhounds
every lingering victim, and even if by a miracle they
escaped them, they must infallibly perish at last of h Inger
and thirst.

A RAILWAY WITNESS ON RAILWAY COMMITTEES.—
The question which I once put to you before, and which
I certainly would put to tat plucky little fellow Lord
John Russell, if I happened to have the honour of his
acquaintance, is simply this—Would it not be better that
the evidence which is now taken before committees of the
House of Commons on railway and other bills should be
given in SCotland, Ireland, and the provinces, before a
paid commission and on oath ? Certain lam that the
work would be far better done. Results would be more
accurately brought out, the truth would be better sifted,
and there would be an end to that profligate system of
demoralisation which is doing no good to London, and is
rapidly corrupting such of us as are necessarily drawn
within its influence. Honorable members would be re-
lieved from a harassing, tedious, and laborious duty ; and
their legislative functions need not be interfered
leisurel
y and
the printed evidence would fall to be
roughly sifted. At present a member of e Housema-
of
Commons is far less a legislator than a mere.ts of the vast
railway
pclidileic. He has not time to study the merits
questions which ought above every thing to claim
his attention ; for his whole day is occupied with a dreary
detail of curves, gradients and sections ; and by being
compelled to do too much, he is crippled in the exercise
and discharge of by .far his most important functions.
And further, the railway interest is already too widely
spread in the House of Commons. Almost every member
has an interest, direct or indirect, in some particular line
or company ; and it is impossible to expect that in every
cae. there shall_ not be a particular sway or bias in the

[gilt nor decent

The leading quality which is required of a-judge in every
department is a strict and thorough impartiality, and an
absolute renunciation of every interested motive ;—and no
sacrifice on the part of the publiC can be too great to at-
tain so desirable an end. It would be well for us if, dur-