and bloody warfare." In regard to the internal quiet of the islands themselves, he stated that he felt confident of the continuation" of the present calm and unruffled tranquillity;" and recommended, in consequence, to the Ionian Exccutive government, "the recall to their native island Zante, of those turbulent individuals, being five in number, whose behaviour, during the late crisis in the Morca, forced the government to remove them from the island for a time. They comprise the whole of the individuals treated in this manner; nor is there a single person within the states in a state of arrest or detention on this account." The speech then adverted to the finance of the islands. The public accounts reached to the 31st of January, 1823, the close of the financial year. The receipt during the year was 707,875 Spanish dollars; the expenditure, 590,518; leaving a surplus revenue of 117,357. "Your financial affairs" (said the general)" continue to wear a promising aspect. Certain it is, that this is not the result of fresh taxation, for you well know that no additional imposts have been laid on the people, since the establishment of the present constitutional government of 1817, unless the modification of the then existing taxes, made by parliament in 1818, is considered in that light. But to settle this point at once, there is laid on your table a return of the present commercial duties, and taxes of all descriptions, together with a statement showing how they stood at the period of and antecedent to, the connexion bctween Great Britain and the Islands. From these documents it appears, that mitigations, not aggravation, of taxation, was the result of the regulations of 1818, alluded to." The crops during the preceding year failed in Corfu. In the island of Cephalonia, Zante, and Ithaca, the year was one of unexampled prosperity, in consequence of the goodness of the crops and the price for currants being high beyond all precedent, owing to the total destruction of the currant plantations of the Morea by the contest in that peninsula. On this point sir Thomas Maitland said-" From real documents which have been submitted to me, it appears, that the proprietors of Cephalonia, Zante, and Ithaca, have received in one year a return, clear of all charges whatever, of 20 to 30 per cent on the value of their respective properties; and it affords me the highest gratification, at a time when the agriculturists in all other parts of the world find the greatest difficulty in obtaining sale for their produce, that the inhabitants of these islands form the hap piest exception to the general dis tress; and that the praiseworthy industry they have shown, since the establishment of the present govern ment, in the material extension of the cultivation of their lands, has met its due reward." In regard to the expenditure, the civil list was laid on the table for the consideration of the assembly; also an account enumerating every item of the whole expenditure. The chief heads of it were alluded to in the speech; such as the govern ment new buildings at Corfu, the new market and lazzaretto in Cephalonia, and the new military hospital in Zante; the money expend ed in all the islands in the making of roads, and in paying, during the last year, an extra body of the militia to guard the coasts-a pre caution made necessary by the appearance of the plague on the opposite shores. The lord commissioner stated that the new college would open in the current year, not however in Ithaca, as formerly proposed, but in Corfu. In respect to the administration of justice, the general expressed his regret that greater progress had not been made in remedying the defects; he believed, however, that great substantial amelioration had been effected, and adverted to an act of Parliament of the former year, from which much benefit had been derived, and from the effect of which he expected the certain reformation of the laws, and of the judicial service of the States. The address concluded with some observations on the late general elections : "At the time (said sir Thomas Maitland) that the present charter was framed, it must be known to those I am now addressing, that the greatest difficulties were supposed to exist in introducing the system of voting viva voce, instead of the one in practice of balls and ballotting boxes; and it was even contended that this last manner of voting was necessary, for the peace and harmony of society. "It appeared to me then, as it does now, that the introduction of the system of voting viva voce on all occasions, would of itself tend to form the character and correct the morals of the people more than any other measure that could be adopted; and its success has, I own, exceeded my most sanguine expectations, and I apprehend, has also surpassed those of every wellwisher to his country: for, whether we look at the number of electors who assembled, and their zeal and anxiety to exercise their elective franchise, or whether we consider the quality and description of the persons they returned as their representatives, it must be obvious, that every thing that has been said by a few factious indivi duals, is proved by the act and deed of the whole of the nobi lity, and of every person of res pectability or property in the country, to be utterly false. The conduct, in fact, observed by all ranks of society, seems to me to be exactly the one best calculated to ensure, and at the earliest period, an extension of the liberties and franchises possessed by the people." The war between the Greeks and the Turks continued to rage with undiminished fury, but without any decisive results on either side. In January the siege of Missolunghi was raised. Churchid had been succeeded by the Seraskier Mahomet Pacha. That chief had his head quarters at Larissa in the beginning of the year: but even so late as the end of spring he was without an army. The Pachas who commanded in Albania were at the head of a considerable force; but that force, instead of being employed in the subjugation of the Morea, found more than sufficient employment in checking the insurgent Beys of Albania. The Turkish arms were every where paralyzed by the inadequate supply of military stores, and by the want of money for the regular pay of their troops. The Greeks on their part, introduced, in a pretended assembly of deputies, some fancied improvements into their imaginary constitution, and made some alterations in their official arrangements. Petro Bez, a military chief, was placed at the head of the execu had tive government; and Maurocordato, the late president, accepted the office of secretary of foreign affairs under him. But the nominal government for Greece neither the resources to maintain, nor the influence to control even the scanty bands that fought for their cause. For the Greek soldiers received no pay; not more than a third of them were equipped with sufficient clothing to shelter them from the inclemencies of a mountain warfare; they almost invariably slept in the open air, and frequently had to pass two or three days without any other food than the herbs of the field. So far as they did not provide for themselves, they were supplied from the scanty resources of the individual chiefs whom they followed. The general mode adopt ed by the chiefs was, to advance a small sum, generally about two Spanish dollars, to each soldier previous to his entering the field; with which he provided himself with bread, tobacco, and whatever other necessaries he might require, as far as the money would suffice. The necessary consequence of this state of things was, that the troops were rather the partisans of particular leaders, than the servants of the government, and that the dissensions and jealousies of the chiefs prevented any consistent plan of operations from being perseveringly acted upon. The navy was equally deficient in permanent organization. It consisted, in fact, of nothing more than about a hundred (at one time the number was 180) vessels of various sizes, fitted out as privateers, by about thirty individuals resident in Hydra, Spezzia, Ipsara, and Samos. The seamen amount ed nominally to about twenty thousand; and the chief difficulty with respect to them, consisted in providing for their families in their absence. Under these circumstances, nothing of importance could be expected to be accomplished. The operations by land consisted either of ineffectual blockades, or of petty guerilla warfare; the events of which were usually magnified for a time into decisive victories. The Greeks besieged Patras, but in vain. The Turks, on the other hand, moved downward on the Morea with a considerable force. But they were retarded so long by the difficulty of procuring provisions, and so harassed by the hostility of the inhabitants of the mountainous districts through which they had to pass, that the autumn was arrived before they came near to the destined scene of action, and a great part of their mercenary troops quitted their standard. The example of disper sion, being once set, was speedily followed; and by the beginning of August, the army, without having accomplished any one thing, ceased completely to exist. One of their chiefs, however, again formed the siege of Missolunghi; but, after losing nearly two months before that place, they were obliged to hasten away from it, abandoning their wounded and their sick, as well as a considerable quantity of stores. The Turks still held Mo don and Coron. In Candia they received important assistance from the Pacha of Egypt: yet Canea and Retyrno were the only for tresses which they retained in that island, and these were closely blockaded. The Greek fleet was late in commencing operations; and it was kept in check by the neigh bourhood of the captain Pacha with a numerous fleet, which the Porte had made great efforts to equip, and which, during part of the year, had the benefit of the co-operation of the Egyptian and Algerine squadrons. The insurgents, however, had several partial successes; and their practical superiority to their enemies was proved by this -that the Turkish admiral did not dare to make any attempt to reduce Milo, Naxia, Tino, Myconos, Skyro, Samos, Andro, Zea, Patmos, Serpho, Aydva, Spezzia, Ipsara, or any of the other islands which had thrown off the yoke of the infidels; and that, in the end of the year, he abandoned the Grecian seas, with nothing to boast of, except that he had furnished stores to one or two besieged fortresses, assisted for a time in the fruitless blockade of Missolunghi, and with two divisions of his fleet maintained an engagement with some thirty or thirty-five Greek ships, in which both parties claimed the victory. The horrors of war were considerably augmented, without any real advantage to the cause of independence, by predatory inroads of the insurgents on the coasts of Asia Minor. On one occasion, fifteen Ipsariot armed vessels, accompanied by upwards of 100 barks, appeared in the bay of Adramit and Sandarly, landed a number of men near the latter place, plundered the town, murdered the greater part of the inhabitants, and carried a great number of them into slavery, among whom was the Harem of Cara-Osman Oglu.* They then plundered and burnt all the vil This is the Chief of the powerful family, which for about fifty years has exercised, in this part of Asia, a sove lages and farms in the neighbour hood; and after a short action with some troops that were sent against them, in which they lost about thirty men, returned to their ships laden with booty. The original plan of the Ipsariots was calculated on a more extensive scale. They had threatened to proceed from Sandarly to Smyrna, in order to set fire to that great city: but the commander of one of the European squadrons cruising there being informed of this intention, repaired in person to Ipsara, and represented to the Primates, that if such an attempt should be made, all the commanders of European ships of war would oppose it. This unexpected attack filled the whole country first with terror, and afterwards with boundless rage: and the consequence was, that, in the town of Pergamo, not far from Sandarly, the Turkish inhabitants and soldiers fell on the Greek population, and, notwithstanding all the exertions of the Cadi, adreadful massacre ensued, in which about 1,000 were killed. When the account of these transactions was received at Constantinople, the sultan ordered Ibraham Pacha, whe commanded the troops on the Bosphorus, to send immediately a large detachment to Pergamo, and to punish, with the utmost rigour, the authors of these sanguinary scenes, which, he declared, were neither justified nor excused by the preceding excesses of the insurgents. The influence of the janissaries, which, at the end of the preceding year, had asserted its predominance so triumphantly against the sultan and his favourites, still conti reignty almost independent of the Porte, and (as all travellers agree) in a mild and beneficent manner. nued. Haleb Pacha, who was regarded as a zealous friend of that military mob, was appointed to the command on the Bosphorus. About the same time, the Mufti was removed from his high office. Lord Strangford had still the arduous task to discharge, of carrying on the negotiations for the preservation of peace and for the removal of the grounds of quarrel between Turkey and Russia. Moldavia and Wallachia occasioned, in appear ance at least, the chief difficulty. For though the Porte had nominated Hospodars in the two principalities, had declared its wil lingness to allow the inhabitants to enjoy the privileges which were secured to them by treaties, and had issued orders for the evacuation of the provinces by the Turkish soldiers; yet Russia complained, that, instead of these orders having been punctually and fully executed, considerable bodies of troops were still stationed in those provinces. On the other hand, the Turkish ministers, were dissatisfied at the presence of a numerous Russian force in Volhynai, Podolia, Bessarabia, and the adjacent districts, and insisted, that they could not be expected to leave their own frontier in a defenceless state, when a neighbouring power menaced them with a formidable military array. They further declared, that the presence of some troops was absolutely requisite for the internal tranquillity of the principalities, and had been asked for in formal petitions by the Christian Hospodars themselves. Another difficulty arose from the precipitate conduct of the authorities at Constantinople, in seizing and detaining in the arsenal four ships, which were sailing for the Mediterranean under the Rus sian flag. The pretext for this seizure was, that the ships were in fact Greek, and on their way to co-operate with the insurgents. After many urgent representations from lord Strangford, they were released in the month of June. Some progress was also made in removing the other obstacles to peace. The Russian troops were partly withdrawn from Bessarabia to cantonments more remote from the Ottoman frontier; and the Turks, on their part, gave reason to expect, that the principalities would be forthwith evacuated by the Pacha of Silistria, and made some concessions with respect to the navigation of the Black Sea. The Austrian Internuncio had exerted himself to soothe the apprehensions which the divan entertained of Russia; and he obtained for his court some commercial advantages, by the removal or alleviation of several of the inconveniences to which Austrian vessels were exposed in the Dardanelles and the harbour of Constantinople.* The following were said to be the principal articles of a convention between Austria and Turkey : 1. The visitation of the Austrian ships on their arrival in the Dardanelles, is to be continued, as the Ottoman government, particularly on account of the Greek insurrection, cannot neglect any precaution; but this visitation is not to be attended with any inconvenience or expense. 2. The vessels so visited in the Dardanelles are exempt from any further examination. 3. The practice of visiting the ships at the moment of sailing out of the harbour of Constantinople is wholly abolished: it is to take place only when the vessels go from the Dardanelles into the Black Sea, and then to be without inconvenience or expense. 4. The custom, which has gradually been introduced, for the captains to pay |