The Statesman.
London, England, 1822-05-15 00:00:00

(De:ate , eaissetifivirefirat jive.)
'during .1 fiend cbareeter of this assatry, as from habits of re-
m:ice and attachment towards the inhabitants of die
looian Islands a residence in Corfu, the pried-
pal Miami. During the period of that residence he hal
passed from island to island, sad had everywhere beard
the ease of English:nen pros noire I with esteem sad all-
feciioff; atql the country itself spoken of as the birth-
place and fisetaary of liberty. Before he touched epos
the subjects immediately leading to his motion he
thought it proper to glance very cursorily at the politi-
cal history of thf lonian Islands. They originally be-
longed to Venice, and shared the fate of thst republic
when it was conquered by the arms of Itliutilicatil
France. The French were ilistnebed in their passession
by the Turks and Russians; and ultimately the Em-
peror Alexander formed thefts into a repnhlic. By e
secret article, however, in the treaty of Tileit.they were
conveyed to France. and in the year 1815 th'ey were, by
the treaty of Paris, placed tooter the guarantee of the
British liovernment. He should be able to shew, if
called epee, from the speech of the Noble Marquess oe•
posite in that house, anti his representatives at Pails.
that the revenues of the lonian Islands werelafficieet to
conduct and carry on the government of them, and there-
fore that they were to be no expense to this country.r;
The very article relative to that subject in the treaty of
Paris, declared that the revenues othe Islands were to
support the garrisons and British military troops
deemed necessary tor the protection of those islands.
except when their number should exceed 3000 men. It
was thought that more than that number could only be
required in time of war when it would not be just to
saddle the islanders with any extra expense. There
was of course to be a separate and distinct Civil Govern-
ment. Ho contended, therefore, that if there was any
doubt on the interpretation or this article, this exception,
as to the 3,000 tees, removed it. He asked, then, whe-
ther that hone/ would sane•ion the burthening of their
country with enormous expense* for the maietenance of
thew islands, when it was admitted tfiat there were re-
venues sufficient for that purpose. 'A return to a mo-
tion made by him, laid on the table 3th Feb. 1920,
'hewed the expense of the military alone to be 145,2031.
for the year 1817, and for ISIS, 120,000/. This was es-
elusive of eeveral tr.naports kept there for some time to
carry troops backwards and forwards. There were too,
ao less than 3,900 troops, exclusive of artillery and com-
missariat, a number fir greater than was necessary. By
this ratio it appeared that in seven years they bad ex-
pended one million npon the-e islands. They might
form an idea of the lavish exproditnre of money in the
government of these islands from the enormous rate at
which the Lord High Commission was paid. He *welled
5,0001. as Governor of Malta; 3,5001. as Cotomander-in-
Chief of the Mediterranean ' • 1,0001. as Lord High Com-
missioner; and besides he had a regiment; so that, urn the whole, he received about 13,0001. of the ps lie
Money. Then, not content with this, Sir Thomas Mait-
land had created a great variety of-civil officers. which,
heeontemeled, were mostly useless. These were Secre-
aries, Under Secretaries, and Assistants. They had
besides an Agent, Sir A. Wood, who resided is London,
with a salary of 31101. a year, for doing what he never
could Irani. The whole of these Civil Officers ran
away with 11,5671. Next there was a Sir F. Aims. se-
cond in command. who received 1,0001. There were
four Inspectors of Militia, at 36u1. a year staffipsy, sad
six Snb-lnspectors, at 2501. each, making a charge of
3,0001. for inspecting Militia; when he was authorised
to state, is individuals who had bees is that situation,
that the Militia were never galled oat, and that this en-
onloos establishment never did one day's duty. One of
these ten Inspectors of Militia was actually use of the
Members of that house; and he would ask how it was
possible to coseeive that Ministers meld so 611 up such
appointments, with declarations is their woaths that
they had carried retrenehmest of public espenditere tie
the utmost ? It might he seed diet 10,60114 wee *dart
of the revenges of the Island; bet it was a deseption en
the hum to say that the expenses of the Islands were
supported by them, when the country was called epos
to pa* the balance. It was for that buss to say whe-
ther it would tolerate the continuities of such use-
less offices, tinder the existing circumstances of the 6141111-
try. It appeared to him a complete dereliction of their
- duty to allow one officer to bold two important sites-
'ions, u Sir T. Maklasd did. It was impossible that
Le could administer jostle* both in the lowan Islands
and in Malta at the same tiato, and the consequence
nowt be that the interests of justice mast suffer from
delay. Another consequence of this was a large charge
for passage money; and if the House would ester to the
Army Extraordinary Estimates for 1819, they would
find so less than 7741. charged for compessatioa of dif-
ferent Captains of British ships of war. for the passage
of Sir T. Maitland. la former years this amounted to
2,6901. Having said so much on the subject of nese-
my, lie would go to that part of his statement which re-
lated to the treatment of the islanderi, and which, in his
opinion, was the part which tended' most to reflect on
the character of this toiletry. Honourable Oentletneu
in that House, who bad travelled is those parts before
they came under British dominion, Mudd relate with
what enthusiasm and admiration the name of Great Bri-
tain, and all that belonged to her were held; and others
would be found who could state the abhorrence and deep
indignation in which this country was amelteld. The I
waives were only waiting for a propillemilassaild'ill '
free themselves from out bated yoke.-41•118r the pan
tence of affording them fiefdom, mid the milipment if
those Nessings which arcompany lievereasent os the
principle of a free Constitution, we had found means to 1 '
tyrannise over and oppress them. Sir T. Maitland.
when lie lauded in those islands, iu 1807, was received '
with tumultuous rejoicings, and greeted as the friend of '
the people. The case, however. was most alarmingly 1
changed for the reverse now.—One of his first acts was, '
to dismiss the four Senators eentrary to the faith of the
Treaty, declaring in a public proclamation, that they ;
were so dismissed fur inept. and corrupt practices.—This,
be was informed, struck terror into the minds of the
people. But finding that there were individuals ready
to speak openly their sentiments, means were taken to
prevent them. On the 18th January, 1917. the whole
population was alarmed to bear the deems of the gar-
rison beat to arms. the troops called out at a stioniest's
notice, and a British frigate is the roads moored close
up with orders to be ready to play her gess upon the
island if attacked. Every ose wondered what was the
meaning of the preparation for a danger which nobody
saw nor knew of. The messing of it was sus made
obvious by the arrest of several of the meet respectable
individuals is the island, by birth and character. as oh-
nudes* persons. It was pretended there was a couspi-
racy; bet he could show that this eesspiracy bad ac-
tually been spokes of I. the Ooverassest Mew at
Corti. as likely to happen two menthe before this affair.
Private papers were wise/. wed ea limitary entered
Sitio; the remit of which was drat the hdermaties
epos which these esemares bad been table, was ad-
mitted to be false, wad the passim arrested were
dismissed with a audios relative to their Ware beha-
viour. One noble individual felt himself se mach de-
graded dolt it required a letter of apology frees Lead
Badurst to appease him. Flee that day se isdividsal
had dared to espeses his opinion. Bat in seder is ewer
the Witter. nil meet the eye of Reeked. addresses
were get up from eyeglass of dui Suess. prated tie
coldest of the Lead liqrb Cwismitsiimer.
wet esedid to the West estrueopeat WAAL A tri-
atiopleme pillu was stowed is Coda is homer of the
here. In Zane a bruise ileum was pas up ie his
praise; id Caskets they bad a best frees the limed of
Cares, at Isere--sad nothing weeddsstide Sr. Mama