The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-07-01 00:00:00

lONIAN ISLANDS

(From a correspondent of the Morning Herald.)
CORFU, JUNE 14.—The parliament of these states is pro-
rogued, and I hand you the speech of the Lord High Com-
missioner, at the close of, the seskion. There has been a
decided opposition on the part of the legislature to the
changes which Mr. Mackenzie proposed in the Constitutional
Chart, the principal one being to sanction the appointment
of judges for life by the crown, instead of their being sub-
jected to change every five years, when a new election of de-
puties takes place. There is no doubt that the proposal of
the British government is calculated to render the judges
much more independent of political and personal intrigue,
and that justice would be much more equitably administered
by judges appointed for life, but this would not suit the
islanders love of intrigue.
There has been a great desire, on the part of the lonians,
to participate in the benefits conferred by the new tariff on
the produce of the colonial possessions of Great Britain, and
petitions have been sent to the British Government, praying
for a differential duty on lonian currants, wine, and olive oil;
but I regret to say, that the spirit abroad is anything but a
genial one towards the protecting power, and the lonians de-
sire anything but a closer connection with England. They
would willingly avail themselves of our favours, our money,
and our protection, but, in reality, are desirous for union to
Greece, to Russia, and the extreme party wish for absolute
independence. There is not a more demoralised population
in these parts; the young men, without pursuits or occupa-
tion, give themselves up to the grossest debauchery; and
morality is at a very low ebb amongst the female part of the
islanders. When called to account for their misdeeds, and
brought before the tribunals, then they exclaim against
English tyranny and oppression. The respectable minority
is, however, well content with England, and only want such
governors as Sir Frederick Adam and Sir Howard Douglas
to be sent to them.

TIPPERARY SPECIAL COMMISSION.—ThiS Commission
was opened on Tuesday. Two attempts This
C
to post-
pone the trials—one on the score of want of jurisdiction in
the court, the offences alleged having been committed in the
north riding of the county ; the other on the ground of want
of preparation. Neither was urged in the way of plea, but
brought forward on motion, and both were overruled. It
being then three o'clock, the Attorney-General declined
entering upon any of the minor cases ; and Wednesday morn-
ing was fixed for the trial of the prisoner charged with the
murder of Mr. Hall. The learned Judge (Chief Justice
Pennefather), in his charge to the grand jury, drew a fright-
ful, but, alas ! too faithful picture of the disorders which pre—
vail :—" In the northern district of the county of Tipperary,"
said his lordship, " there is hardly a crime—provided it be a
crime of violence—that is not perpetrated almost with itn-
punity—the object of the perpetrators of these crimes is, by
outrage, by force and by violence, to carry out their unlawful
purposes ; it is really shocking to humanity to be informed
of those crimes and outrages which are almost daily, but at
all events frequently, perpetrated in that part of this fine
county. Life and property are not secure. No man can call
his life his own when assassination pervades and stalks
through the land in open day, and when the murderer hardly
seeks for the advantage of the concealment even of darkness,
when he sets about the perpetration of his deeds of guilt.
Law is set at defiance—the laws of God are outraged, and
the laws of the land are resisted and set at nought. Property
is as insecure as life. No man can be said to be master of
his own property. A man cannot choose his tenants—a man
cannot choose his servants in this county, except at the peril
of his own life, and those whom he may think proper to em-
ploy either as tenants or as servants. All this county seems
to have combined in an universal scheme to support a system
of outrage—a system of violence—a system of destruction—
both to the parties themselves and to those with whom they
have to deal."