The Portland daily press., 1863-01-20

on both sides of the Adriatic. The Austrian
possessions In Venice and Lombardy were
considered TO be threatened by the French !;
whist the possessions of Austria in Dalmatia
and lllyria were thought to be threatened by
Russia. These dangers have very much di-
minshed, if they have not altogether ceased ;
| and even If they should arise again, England
| could do quite as much TO avert them by send
ing feet from Malta to guard the passage in
to the Adriatic as she could do by holding pos
session of a group of islands at the entrance
OF that sea. II is not, however, by force that
any OF the countries around the Adratic are
now threatened, but by political movements:
and there is nothing in the manner in which
those countries are governed by Austria that
would at all induce the English people or Gov
ernment to make sacrifices to uphold the Aus
trian authority. The only English interest in
the Adriatlc is In the right ofway from Trieste,
Venice and Ancona TO Malta and Alexandria.
As the narrowest part of the entrance into the
Adriatic is from 80 to 40 miles wide. il is not
III the power of any one to close the passage
against us. We possess two impregnable po-
sitions IN the Mediterranean, namely those of
Malta and Gibraltar, and the necessity to de-
fend greater number of positions in that sea
IS cause of weakness and not of strength.
The only two things that England requires in
the Mediterranean are freedom to trade with
the countries on its shores, and freedom to
pass through it to Egypt and the overland
route to India. Both these objects are per-
fectly secured by the possession OF Malta and
Gibraltar. and therefore the holding of the
Ionian Islands is only waste of money and of
troops.
There Is however another and much strong
er reason why it would be very desirable to
free ourselves from the task of governing the
Ionian Islands. Since we undertook that du-
ty the independence of Greece has been estab-
lished, and the strongest wish exists in those
islands to unite themselves with the Kingdom
OF Greece, This wish is very natural, consid-
ering the common origin of the people, their
ancient connection, and their agreement in
language and religion. From these causes
they were passionately eager to be united to
the Kingdom of Greece, even when it was
under the rule of King Otho, and when they
could not have Joined that kingdom without
losing that security for person and property
which they enjoyed under the rule of England
This desire will become much stronger if a re-
ally good government should be established
in Greece. In that case our position in the
Ionian Islands would be very disagreeable.
and would seriously interfere with our infu-
ence in the affairs of Europe. With the Ioni-
ans discontented with our rule, and only kept
down by force, we should not be likely to re-
ceive much attention from Austria and Russia
in any remonstances which we might have
occasion to make on the misgovernmcnt of
Veneta and Poland.
Fortunately the very strong expression of |
respect for the Royal Family and the institu-
tions of England shown | 3 the Greek people |
in the spontaneous election of Prince Alfred |
to the throne Of Greece, affords us an excel |
lent opportunity Of performing polite act in
a graceful manner. We cannot give them a |
king, for 1t wbuld involve us in responsibilities |
that 1t would be unwise for us to undertake: |
but we have the power Of comforting what will |
be considered very great favor both by the
Greeks and the Ionians, and we shall never /
again have SO favorable an opportunity of con-
Ierring it-lLiverpool Mercury