Whether farther informati...
The Times, 1824-10-13T00:00:00

Whether farther information and the knowledge of adc- ditional facts may give a different complexion to the affair of which we are going to speak, we know not; but as the xnatter stands at present, no recent proceeding with which we are acquainted has excited greater disgust in lhe coun- try than the proclamation attributed to the Governor of the Ionian Isles, and his subsequent conduct in despatch- ing ships of war to attack the vessels of the Greeks. Surely the whlole of the case cannot be before the public. There mnust be something hidden or kept back, for; 'with the docu- ments which we have at present before us, we cannot help considering the conduct of the Governor or Lord High Commissioner as a. violation of the law of nations. If there is a principle for whiclh we have contendcd above all ot'nes, it is, that neutrals shall not be allowed to carry contraband ofwar, and that neutral ships suspec ted of such a freight shall 'be liable to search (if they will submit), and subsequent con- demnation; or if they decline submitting to a searcl, may be treated as enemies, be captured, burned, or sunik. The ausual process of belligerents, according t& VATTEL, is to notify their war to neutrals likely to be afFected by it; whereupon the latter " give orders to their subjects to re- "frain from all contraband comner-eevitb the nations at 6war; declaring, that i6ilbey are capturel in carrying on csuch trade, the Sovereign will not protect them." Now, the Greek proclamation is to the following effect-that "itt spite both of tle orders- of their consuls and the prin- ciples of neutrality adopted by their respective Govern- of mneits, certain B uxopeai Captais hav6 hired out their ~"' pszelv, to convey t.ops, ags, and ammunition for the " -.urks, which vessels, if detected, shall be treatcd as "enemies." To ais, th1erefore, it appears (if we have all the facts before us) that nothing can be more just than this proclamation-nothing more proper than the conduct which the authors of it annoTnce tflat thiey will pursue in the 'ases specified. It canniot bc denied, we presume, that arms, ammunition, and in many cases provisions are contraband of war; or that one belligerent, sieing the troops f the otlher on board of a transport, has a riglht to fire at, sink, or capture them, It appears further, also, that the Sovereign to whom the cotmnander of the transport is a subject 5 can, by the law of nations, in no such case pro- ` tect his subject." And yet, in suchl a case or cases does the representative of the British Sovereign in the Ionian Isles declare that he will protect his fellow-subjects, and that by a course the most severe to the suffering belligerent that British valour can inflict. We here introduce the threat denounced against the Greeks by the English Com- missioner, and signed, as it appears, by his Secretary, J. RusDpr.:- " In consequence, the Lord High Commissioner has demanded, "in the name of Hiis Mlajesty, thc revocation of the said Pro- clamation; the Provisiosal Government having refused, and this " refusal having been notiel to the Comma3der.in.Chief of His ' Mlajesty's Naval Forces, it is now declared by this Proclama- " tion, that the said Commander-in-Chief, conformably to the in- "structions he has received from the Liords Commissioners of the Admiralty, will arrct and capture all tlte vessels, armed or bear- " ing armed men, equipped by the authority of the Provisional Go- "vernment of Greece, or by those who acknowledge its authority; *and that these instructions shall be executed till the said Procla- "mation of the Provisional Government shall be a?uthentically " revoked if all its parts, and till its revocation shall be notified in a "proper manner to the Lord High Comtnissioner and the Com- " mander.in.Ciiief of His Majesty's Naval Forces." The effect of this Proclamation is certainily to place England at war with-that is, against-the Greeks; for the fact seems so monstrous that it will hardly be understood if cenveyed in the ordinary forms of speech. The Prorla- mation, if it has been carried inito effect, upon such grounds as new appear before the public, will have made us the allies of the Turks, in destroying the Greelss; and with them, the law of nations, for whiGh we have so warmly contended atsainst the Americans.