With regret we announce t...
The Times, 1824-08-11T00:00:00

YVith regret we antnounce that the rumours of the last day or two, respecting the fall of t4he Greek island of Ipsara, have been confirmed from so inany quarters, and on such authority, as leaves no reasonable ground of hope that the previous statements had been unworthy of credit. The letter which we publish from Smyrna, however, de- tails many circumstances, which, if true, may yield some satisfaction to the friends of humanity; as it is there affirmed, that after the storm of the fortress, the Ottoman Commander exhibited an anxiety, new to this dreadful conflict, or of rare occurrence, for the preservation of those Christian prisoners who had fallen into the hands of the Turks. A Trieste letter, on the other hand, contains a narrative which, although not possessing any positive means to contradict it, we cannot receive without consider- able distrust of its veracity. In aU its particulars this ac- count is at variance with the Smyrna letters. The latter malce the body of Turks who landed on the islandl amount in the whole to 14,000 men, and represent the resistance of the garrison as but feeble; while from Trieste we arc told, that the Turks lost is,ooo of their trpops, and that the courage of the Christians was so fierce and desperate, that rather than be taken alive by the enemy, they blew up tlhemselves, their wives, and children, wvith no small number of the besiegers. But, however contradictory and perplexing these narratives, the main fact, we fear, is too well established-namely, the conquest of an island strong in its position, and defended by a hardy maritime popula-i tion, who had hitherto evinced a determined animosity to the invaders. Samos was, it appears, the next island de- stined to be attacked; but if the Smyrna intelligence may be believed, the Samians had already sent in their submis- sion. It would betray, however, an unworthy estimate of the intrinsic spirit and power of Greece, to augur any general bad consequence to her fortunes from one tintoward ac- cident. The news from the Morea, by way of Zante, is of the most encouraging nature. COLOCOTRONI and the other malcontent Chiefs having returned to their duty, the Go- vernment had recovered that strength which their insubor- dination had suspended. The seat of the Executive and Legislative Body was the formidable post of Napoli di Romania, and the proceeds of the English loan were all they wanted to qualify them for commencing a course of decibive measures against the Turks. Although it is sufficiently obvious to every man, that a nation which de- pends on foreign aid has little chanice of ultimate security, it may nevortheless happen that at some one conspicuous crisis in public affairs, a single inidividual, anid he a fo- reigner too, may work the most important advantages. Our illustrious countryman Lord BYnON did more for Greece than perhaps any one of her own citizens. His energy and authority laid the founedation for adjusting those personal differeinces which since his death have been composed. His *devoted enthusiasmn and masculine genius raised and ennobled the national spirit, while they quelled the sordid acrimony of party. WVhere, alas ! is the suC- cessor of Lordl BYRoNx ? Where among the surviving great men of England will be found, as there was in him, the instinct of freedom and heroism? lVhere the combined ascendancy of the poet, the warrior, and the statesman ? The British Government, undler thc guise of neutrality, has done its utmost to para- lyze the Greeks. No soldier, nor sea-man, nor civil ser- vant of this Crown, dares to raisc his arm for them or to offer them his counsel. Yet are there, we trust, without and beyond the pale of office, Englishmen not wanting to the cause of human liberty, on whom glorious examples are not lost, and upon whose well-taught minds high prin- ciples have not been vainly inculcated. It would be wor- thy of such men, the offspring of such a country as this, to bear their part at so momentous a crisis, to aid in erecting one more outwork to that moral fortress of which the cita- del is here, and to renovate the worn-ouit East by that vital spirit of freedom with which Englishmen and English mo- dels have inspired the whole western hemisphere.