The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-01-18 00:00:00

PARGA.

We have great pleasure in calling the attention of
our Readers to the interesting publication of Lieut.•
Colonel Bosse, entitled Par -a and the lonian Mande.
The public are already acquainted with the work in
its original form ; but it now appears accompanied
with various documents, confirming several statements
that had in some meatasee been di regarded or doubted:

It also contains a number of testimonials of the meri-
torious conduct of the Author, who has at different
periods highly distinguished himself in the English
service. According to the Colnners own account, the
present edition has been published principally with a
view to refute the misrepresentations of The Quarterly
Reriew, and remove the impressions made by its un-
fair criticism upon the work. Independent of this,
the production is entitled to much consideration on
account of the important facts it discloses relative to
the disgraceful cession of Parga to Ali Pasha, and
the consequent sufferings of an expatriated and in-
'salted people.
We select one of the paragraphs, which the Quar-
terly Reviewers have thought proper to notice ; we
give their comment, and the reply of Colonel Russet;
leaving to the reader to judge how far in point of
correctness and candour the Reviewers can he relied
upon. We need not add, that most of the political
articles which appear in their periodical work partake
of the same spirit and bias.
"1 he foreign garrisons" (says Colonel Bosset, in
yeainitig of the people of Parga) " which have occu-
pied Parga at different periods, have had little lutist-
core on the manners of the inhabitants. hey are
attar bed to their ancient nsages. Their mode of life
is simple; their women are chaste, though thry enjoy
the 7reatest degree of social freedom°.
• The Quarterly Reviewer says, " Had Mr. de Bonet
been disposed to tell the whole truth, be might have re-
horn his own knowledge, that any Parganotte
girl was to he purchased /4r that; and that the daugh-
ter of one of the first families in Parga, so beautiful as to
be known by the mime of the Queen of Parga, was li-
terally transferred by her father to an officer, who, after
a certain period, returned her to his care, with the sate
of WI dollars for the usufruct."
Now, from te.,timony entitled to the fullest credit, it
appears, that in the whole period of the occupation of
Par,a bv the British forces (five vearsl only two Par-
nby
goino girls were known to have been seduced by, •r
to have lived publicly with, persons attached to the gar-
rison. One of these persons was a surgeon, and the
otl.er a commissary : but the conduct of the latter. who
was afterwards appointed, by Sir Thomas Maitland, a
e,enther of the( 'onimission for distributing the purehase
tome). of the Pargitinote property, was so far from !R-
-eef; sanctioned by the connivanre of the girl's parents,
East it was on the point of occasioning disturbance, and
of leading to acts of violence. As to the story of the
NI/dollars, if the fact be true, it is ass isolated one, and
not by auy means in conformity with either their laws or

customs. -
It is curious to observe how studiously the Quarterly
Coilit, emphatically as he calls on me for the whole
trrth, avoids speaking of the conduct of those
Lo, by the bigli station they hold in that coun...
try, ought to furnish the hest example ; of the facts to
I ajlude, fi ion his :ipparently intimate acipiaio.
with every thing telating to the lonian Islands,
Le could not possibly he ignorant. As he has, however,
f. roved himself's° conveniently forgetful of certain cir-
et:instances necessary fur the completion of the ‘. whole
t: oh," I must be allowed to remind him, that his pen
have been employed much more to the benefit of
those %%hum lie so strenuously defends, if he bad used it
f.. enforce the respect due to the conjugal laws of every
t i rtlizeti community : Worming us en imsani, whether
any thing can be alleged in justification of the seduction
of women from their husbands and children, and of
t:i.irrviog those woven, though they profess a religion
Ly %%hidh divorce is prohibited.
The reviewer might also have taken occasion to show,
from the splendid examples afforded hint at Malta and
Corfu, how well the virtues of temperance and sobriety
Leeome exulted station; and he might have illustrated
• Lis doctrine by an exhihition of the conseiptences, in
%stip'', instances, of acts decided on in moments of
inariety.
Delicacy, and no other consideration, prevents Inv
bring 1111 l re explicit; but I am ready on the first chat-
l. ,
nge to pittance ample explanation.

P.1110c111.11, ANTlyl 4RI.I.NS' , ,

TO THE EDITOR (W TIIE ST.VI'ES3I IN.

Sta—This moment a matter of very interesting.
import his been communicated to me, by a person of
undoubted veracity, and who resides 'war the spat
where that matter arose.
Soule days ago, workmen digging for the founda-
tion of a wall intended to enclose some addition to
St.

Workhouse, discos eyed a number of decayed
coffins, from which it is evident that that ground had
beeu heretofore a church-yard. One coffin, from its
sppearance, attracted their particular attention. It
looked as fresh as if it were but recently interred, al-
though by the date on the mounting it uas oaf hex-
drrd and thirty years old, and it was curiously orna-
mented, not with silver, bat with iunumerable iIIIAIS
nails. Upon opening it, the hotly it contained was
in as fresh and as perfect a condition as its va,bet.
The coffin was, as it has been described to we, ‘• stutrd
with herbs and flowers,"--which were quite dry and
in such a state of preservation, that their respective
classes were at once discoverable. More I could not
learn, becalm I was told " the thing" was kept a pro-
fniutd secret. by the overseers and " Officers of State"
belonging ta the establishment.
Cpon inq tiring what could be the reason of this
see,eep, it came out in confidence, and with
a little stammering, that some of those parochial
antifilarians—those humane and ihteiligcnt dispensers
of chirity—had taken out and sold the brasa nails !
tio doubt to distribute in alias ; u Ishi, with due mo-
desty and discretion, they did not wish to be known.
lest sonic censorious—some " blasphemous and dis-
loyal " parishioner should accuse or suspect them of
attfishnew or pecttlation!—things quite unktiown to
their fraternity.
wonder if those humane and intelligent gentle-
men or ladies have yet gotten a customer for their
al herbs and spices."

P. S. Perhaps the silly Aiatoriam and the inqui-
sitive geotticittes of the jacerlty, way imagine may
had a right to inspect that discovery, and to rob
parish - those brim voila. An ounce of •Baas

all the inforairtioN of a century.

•

..~,__

,44*

the parish of th,
*ails is worth all