The Sun. — 1822-06-29 (London, England)

CALAMITY AT CONSTANTINOPLE.  Mr. W. SMIT1:1 wished to put a question to the Noble Marquis opposite, on a subject which was of the greatest interest, not only to the British nation, but also to the whole European community. There had that day appeared in the public  prints accounts of certain transactions at•ConStantinople, which could not fail to excite the strongest sensations of horror in the mind of every man who read them.—(Hear, hear.)—.He knew some individuals that took a deeper interest than could possibly be entertained by any British heart.-4lfear, hear )—:Hetherefore wished to ask the Noble Matt:pus, -whether he had received any official accounts frOm our Minister at Constantinople, or our diplomatic agents elsewhere, which enabled him to judge of the correctness of the accounts in question ? The Marquii of LONDONDERRY gave an answer, of Which the first part was (juke inaudible in the gallerY. •We afterwards understood him to sir, that Government was in possession of the fact, that 10 or 12 of the hostages for the pen, ple of Scio had been executed at Constantinople, but not ofany details regarding it. A calamity. had oecurre4.-and he could not describe the transaction alluded to by any other name—a calamity had occurred which had arisen out of the peculiar acts of barbarity which had been perpetrated on both sides during the wat in the island of Scio.. Acts of barbarity, he repeated it, had been committed on both sides.—(Hear.)—The Greeks had themselves committed certain cruelties, which, though they did not justify, led to, the transactions complained Of.--4 Heat.) Itir..W. SMITH said, that he was rather inclined to think that, instead of 12 or 15, 85 persons had suffered death by the' hands of the executioner. He had asked the question in order to obtain some precise information upon it. Though the public would scarcely believe the fact, he had been told by a person who was in the town at the time of the execution, though he could not bring himself to witness it, that six persons had been impaled alive, who had committed no other crime than that of becoming hostages for their fellow-countrymen at Scio--: (Hear.) Sir J. MACItINTOSI-1 would put a question to the Noble Lord, which would bring the matter home at once to the ho, nour and the feeling of the British nation. He asked hith, whether any dispatches had been received from OUT Ainbassador at the Ottoman Porte, from which it could be.ascertained whether any of those pefsons who had been murdered by the barbarous tyrants at Constantinople had been under the protection of the British Minister, Lord Strangford, or hid surrendered themselves to the Turks under any pledge, promise, or assurance of safety from that Nobleman ?—(lieat!)—He would also take the opportunity of asking the Noble Marquis, whether it was mentioned in any of the recent dispatches he had received, that the markets of Smyrna and Constantinople were filled with amiable Greek ladies and children, offered to the caprices of barbarous Mahornedan voluptuaries ? Ile asked whether Ministers could afford the nation any account of the new slave trade, recently established in the east, for amiable and accomplished Christian females, by a government which was encouraged and supported by the Administration of this free and enlightened country P--(Hear I) The Marquis of LONDONDERRY in reply stated, that the question of the lion. and Learned Gentleman involved an argimient as well as a question, and that if he wanted an answer to his argument, he mtist bring .it forward upon another occasion. He believed that 80 or 00 individuals had recently been executed at Constantinople, but several of them were' inhabitants of the Morea, and, as lie was informed, not more than 10 or 12 of them hostages ftom Scio: Those persons could not he considered in qtly degree under the protection of the British Government, or in such a situation as to require our interferende upon the principle of protection. Upon the principle of good offices, Lord Strangford, much to his own honour and that of the Government he represented—(Hear !)—had frequently interposed: That interposition had in geniral been fa.: vourably received ; and there had once been reason to hope that the hostages from Scio were in perfect security. How far the determination of the Turkish Government upon that point had been altered by subsequent information, he could not tell ; for, as to the hostages from Scio, he had not at present suffi-: cient information: