Notes and Observations on the Ionian Islands and Malta: with some remarks on Constantinople and Turkey, and on the system of quarantine as at present conducted

Chapter I. Sketch Of The Present Government Of The Ionian Islands

Form of the Ionian Government as estabhshed by Charter in 1817. The Senate, how Constituted. Its Duties. The Legislative Assembly. Mode of its Election. Its Functions. The Parliament. The Local Governments of the different Islands, and their Composition. How Subordinate to the General Government. Form and Administration of Legal Power. Composition of the Courts of Justice. Supreme and Local Church Establishment. Civil List. Character of the Government. Remarks on the same. Acts of Parliament illustrative of the Forms of Government,

Chapter II. On The State Of The Arts In The Ionian Islands

Statistical Returns illustrating the State of the Arts. Remarks on these. Trades followed, chiefly those concerned with Common Wants. How carried on. Examples in illustration of the low degree of Skill with which they are conducted. The Fine Arts little advanced. Comparison of the different Islands. Remarks on the rude State of the Arts in Cerigo, and on the Ignorance of the People. Small Communities unfavourable to Progress in the Arts. Retarding Circumstances, .... VI CONTENTS. Paga

Chapter III. Miscellaneous Notices Of Some Of The Utensils, Implements, And

processes in use in the Ionian islands. Mills. A very primitive Corn-Mill described. Oven in common use. Kitchen Fire-places. Lamps. Still. Water-lever. Different Modes in use of watering Gardens. Manner of washing Clothes. Bleaching. Dyeing. The Sandal. Remarks on its usefulness. Boats of peculiar Construction. Modes of taking Fish. Of snaring Birds, ....... 43

Chapter IV. On The Commerce Of The Ionian Islands

Great Capabilities of these Islands for Commerce. Tables illustrative of their present Commercial Condition. Peculiar Mode of Conducting the Trade iu Grain. Currant aud Oil Trade. Disadvantages under which they labour. Remarks on the Commercial Resources of the Islands, and the Improvement of certain Productions and Manufactures. Exertions of Government in behalf of Improvement. Establishment of an Ionian Bank- — an Agricultural Society. Great Improvement aud Extension of the Roads. Other Improvements in Progress. Tables in illustration of the Commercial Relations between the Ionian Islands and Great Biitain. Tables illustrating the Currant-trade, 57

Chapter V. On The State Of Knowledge In The Ionian Islands, And

ON THE MEANS OF EDUCATION. Remarkable deficiency of useful Scientific Knowledge. Circumstances to which owing. Illustrations drawn from the Liberal Professions and the Superstitions of the People. Outline of thc System of Education in use, instituted by the Government. Medals for the Encouragement of Learning. Seminary for the Instruction of Students of Divinity. Brief Sketch of the Progress of Public Education. Remarks on the Tendencies to Abuse. Example of Success in Cerigo. Dangers to which a University is exposed in a « Small Community illustrated, .... CONTENTS. VII I'uge

Chapter VI. On The Charitable Institutions Of The Ionian Islands

Smallness of their Number. Monti di Pieta. Civil Hospitals. Lunatic Asylum. Desiderata in regard to Medical Institutions. Foundling-Hospital. Remarks relative to its former Abuses. Observations on the Condition of the Indigent Poor. Remarks on the Population, ..... 117

Chapter VII. On The Character And General Condition Of The People Of

THE IONIAN ISLANDS. General Resemblance of the People of the different Islands. Points of Difference. Habits and Manners of the Inhabitants divided into Classes. Notice of the Principal Towns ; of the Houses of the Upper Class ; their Furniture and Household Economy. Amusements and Recreations. Dress of the Peasantry. Other particulars respecting them. Numerous Holidays. Neglect of the Sabbath. Condition of the Women. Marriage Rites. Funerals. Neglected State of Grave-yards, and Want of Respect to the Dead. Remarks on the Character of the People. Extracts froni Authors, relative to the same, contrasted, .... 124

Chapter VIII

notice of a journey through the mountainous district of zante, in 182*4. This District hitherto imperfectly known. Particulars of Catastari. Monastery of Spelliotissa. Cbaracter of thc adjoining Hilly Country. Volimes. Pitiable Condition of the Sick. Total Destitution of Medical Aid. Free, independent Life of the Inhabitants. Monastery of St Georgio. Bay of Vromi. Prospects from the Heights of Vrachiona. Village of Maries. Houses and Habits of the Villagers. Cisterns of Oxicora and its basin-like Valley. St Leo. Instances of remarkable Longevity. Large Apiary. Basin-like Valley of Luca. Coldness of its Climate. Monastery of Madonna Paragato. Woodcock Shooting. Gilliamano. Village School. Neglected Grave- Yard. House of the Priest. Farther Particulars CONTENTS. Page respecting the Occupations of the People.

Comparative Severity of the Winter Season. Villages of Ambelo and Chieri. Malaria of the former. Manner of Snaring Doves. Diglidani's Leap. Cultivation and Peculiarities of the Currant-Vine in the VaUey of the Pitch-Springs. Appearanco and Dress of the People in the Mountain Villages, ...•■• 155

Chapter IX. Miscellaneous Remarks

; WITH EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS, IN FARTHER ILLUSTRATION OF THE STATE OF THE PEOrLE IN THE IONIAN ISLANDS. Notice of a Visit to the Monastery of Taffeo, in Cephalonia, and how entertained there. A Medical Consultation in the same Island. Excursions from Cephalonia and Santa Maura to Ithaca. Primitive Reception and Hospitality. Particulars respecting the Island of Meganisi. Notice of the desert Islet of Tiglia. Particulars of Leftimo, a district of Corfu. Excursion to Sidari, on the north coast of Corfu. Particulars of Fano, and other Islets, off the north-west coast of Corfu. Notice of the Island of Paxo. Its Cisterns. Bishop of Paxo. Manners of the Inhabitants, 194

Chapter X. On Malaria And The Fevers Of The Ionian Islands

General Healthiness of the Ionian Islands, independent of Fevers of Malaria-Origin. Tables in Illustration. Different Types of Fever described. Summer Fever of the Mediterranean. Remittent Fever. Illustrative Tables. Remarks ou the Nature and Treatment of Remittent Fever. Intermittent Fevers. Malaria. Conjectures respecting its Nature. Negative Evidence. Facts in illustration of its Mysterious Origin. Circumstances favouring its Agency. Cautions against it, . 218

Chapter XI. On Thf

FEVERS OF MALTA. Kinds of Fever to which Malta is subject. Tables in illustration. Remarks on the Nomenclature of Fevers. Notice of the different kinds affecting the British Troops and the Inhabitants. Further Observations and Reflections on Malaria, CONTENTS. IX Page 280 323

Chapter XII. On The Climate Of The Mediterranean, In Relation To Pulmonary

CONSUMPTION. Popular Opinion that the Climate of the Mediterranean is less productive of Pulmonary Disease than that of Great Britain. Opposite results of recent Statistical Inquiries. These results scrutinized. Comparison of Cavalry and Infantry Soldier as regards circumstances affecting Health. Evidence derived from the Troops serving at home and in the Mediterranean. Proportional prevalency of Phthisis amongst the native Malteso. Tables in illustration. Deduction in favour of the Climate of Malta. Problem of the greater Liability of British Troops to Phthisis in Malta than in the Ionian Islands. Returnsof Fatal Cases in illustration. Circumstances likely to conduce to the greater Liability in Malta. Remarks on its Climate, with Suggestions for Invalids proposing to winter there. Reflections on the Formation of Tubercle in the Lung, and on the Means of Prevention, ......

Chapter XIII. Observations On Quarantine

Supposed Importance and Object of Quarantine. Notice of the Effects of the Measures which have been considered necessary for its Inforcement. Reflections on the existing System. Farther inquiries necessary to decide on many important Points. Foundations of existing System of doubtful Soundness. Question of the Contagion of Plague. Considerations for and against the Doctrine. Recent Facts seemingly Demonstrative of Contagion. Remarks on the time the Disease may be latent. On the questionable Propriety ofthe Classification of Substances into Susceptible and Non- Susceptible. Reasons for considering all Substances susceptible, excepting those which have the Power of destroying Contagion. Other Objections to the present System of Quarantine. Desiderata in Relation to farther Inquiry. Prospects of a successful Termination, and of a Revision of the Quarantine Laws. Facts in favour of both. Advantages likely to result from the adoption of a Milder »nd more Efficient System, . ... X CONTENTS. Po ■ 368 ;<i

Chapter XIV. On The Small-pox Of

1830-31, IN MALTA. How introduced. Progress of the Disease, its Extent and Mortality. Tables in illustration. Remarks founded on the Numerical Results. Conjecture that Warm Air freely circulating in the Apartments may be beneficial in the Treatment of the Disease. InHuence of Sex, Age, Vaccination. Tables in illustration. Return of Small-Pox amongst the Men, Wives, and Children of the British Troops. Remarks on the Results, in Proof of the Protecting Power of Vaccination. Some Peculiarities of the Disease noticed. Remarks on Chicken-Pox, in relation to the question of its identity with Small-Pox. Observations on the Degree of Credit due to the Tables illustrating the Disease, and on the Manner of Forming them, .......

Chapter XV. On The Climate Of Constantinople, And On Some Of The

HABITS OF THE PEOPLE IN CONNEXION WITH CLIMATE AND HEALTH. Climate of Constantinople different from what might be expected a priori. Its chief Peculiarities. Observations in illustration. Some Errors and Exaggerations pointed out. Meteorological Tables for the Years 1839 and 1840 kept in Pera. Comments on them. Observations and Remarks in Connexion with Climate. On the Temperature of tlie Bosphorus and Black Sea at different Seasons. A Peculiarity in the Temperature of the Bosphorus pointed out. Brief Notices of the Dress, Dwelling- Houses, Manner of Living, &c, of the Turks, iu Connexion with Climate and Health. Notices of the Principal Diseases to which they are subject in the Capital, and of those to which they are either little Liable or are Exempt from. Remarks on the Climate in Relation to the' Inquiries of InvaUds and Travellers, CONTENTS. XI Page 427

Chapter XVI. Notice Of Some Of The Public Institutions In Constantinople, In

CONNEXION WITH THE PRESENT STATE OF TURKEY. Opposite Hypotheses respecting the Present Condition of the Turkish Empire. Opinion of their Futility. Military Hospitals in Constantinople and its Neighbourhood, Described. Naval Academy. MUitary College. Medical School. How defective. Notice of the great Barracks belonging to the Capital. Of the Quarantine Establishment. Of some of the Government Manufactories. Contrast between them and the Native Work-Shops — between the New and the Old Schools — as demonstrative of different Periods. Prospect of Improvement, founded on the Capacity of the Turkish Youth. Observations on the Vices of the Government, connected with the Training of Official Men. Conjectures respecting Reform, and Revival of Power, on the Supposition that the People are little changed, and that existing Abuses may be Swept away by a Master-mind. Farther Conjectures on the same Subject. Remarks on the Rayah-Christiau Population, .... NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS ON THE IONIAN ISLANDS AND MALTA.

Chapter I. Sketch Of The Present Government Of The Ionian Islands

Form of the Ionian Government as established hy Charter, in 1817. The Senate, how Constituted. Its Duties. The Legislative Assembly. Mode of its Election. Its Functions. The Parliament. The Local Governments ofthe different Islands, and their Composition. How Subordinate to the General Government. Form and Administration of Legal Power. Composition of the Courts of Justice. Supreme and Local Church Establishment. Civil List. Character of the Government. Remarks on the same. Acts of Parliament illustrative ofthe Forms of Government. In accordance with the Treaty of Paris of 1815, these states are under the immediate and exclusive protection of the sovereign of Great Britain. A represen tative of the protecting power, appointed by the crown, and responsible to her Majesty's government, resides in the islands, with the title of Lord High Commissioner.

The established government of the Ionian Islands is framed on the charter of 1817, to which I would refer the reader who may be desirous of becoming VOL. II. B minutely acquainted with the formula of its consti tution, and the details of its forms, which are some what complicated. Including the Lord High Commissioner, it is con sidered as consisting of three parts, namely, a Senate, a Legislative Assembly, and a Judicial Power. The senate is elected out of and by the legislative assembly ; and the latter [after a trial of the ballot], by the open votes of the " Sincliti ;" that is, such of the people of the Ionian States as possess a certain amount of property,* or the equivalent (as has * The qualifications of the Sincliti, or noble electors, were not defined in the charter of 1817. In the eighteenth article of that do cument, reference is made to the constitution of the Septinsular Re public, bearing date the 24th November 1803, and setting forth that the organization of the electors, as then laid down, shall be maintained till " changed or ameliorated" by act of Parliament.

The conditions are contained in the sixth article, and are the following: — "Sono Nobili attivi e constituzionali, e possono divenirlo successivamente e indefinitamente per se, e per i loro legittimi discendenti, tanto celibi eome maritati ed uniti in famiglia con altri membri della Medesima pur maritati, tutti quelli, che sono, o fossero per essere descritti nel Registro Civico dell' Isola cui appartengono, ed hanno o fossero per avere, e conservassero complessivamente i seguenti rcquisiti : 1. Di essere originari delle Sette Isole. 2. Di essere nati per legittimo matrimonio o legittimati per sus sequente, da padre cristiano, e professare la Religiona cristiana. 3. Di possedere un annua rendita liquida fondiale, o usufrutturia, o reale, o resultante da un' industria assicurata, o da una florida casa di commercio, fissata, per i conscrivibile alia nobilita attiva delle rispettive isole. in ducati nostri correnti a lire sei l'uno nelle misure seguenti : Per Corfu Ducato mille ottocento (L. 69) ; per Cephalonia sei cento scttanta cinque (L.33, 15s.); per Zante mille trecento cenquanta, (L.67, 10s.); per Santa Maura cinque cento quaranta (L.27) ; per lately been liberally enacted), of a university de gree. * The Senate, constituting the nominal executive part of the government, is composed of four members and a president, the latter named by the Lord High Commissioner, and the former approved by him.

It is divided into three departments, each of which has a secretary ; namely, a general, a finan cial, and a political department. The Legislative Assembly, the functions of which, independent of electing senators, are nominally analogous to those of our House of Commons, is com- Cerigo, due cento venti cinque (L.9, 4s. 6d.); per Itaca trecento quindici (L.15, 15s.) ; per Paxo cinque cento quaranta (L. 27.) 4. Di nonesercitare personalemente alcun arte o mestiere meccanico.t 5. Di non tenere personalmente bottega aperta.t 6. Di avere sempre condotto un vita civile, e saper legere e scrivere in una delle lingue usati dal Governo. 7. Di non essere stati mai dichiariti colpevoli di delitti puniti con pene efflittive e infamanti. 8. Di non essere falliti fraudolenti ne detentori gratuiti dell' eredita di un fallito. 9.

Di non essere debitore al publico Erario." It is curious to observe the great differences in the qualifying rates of incomes in the different islands, and especially the very high rate in Corfu, compared with that in Cephalonia, which is little more than that of Paxo. At that time the olive crop was far the most profitable, and it probably was made the foundation for the estimate. The pro duce of the currant-vineyards, on the contrary, was then of so little value, the English market being closed, that the vines were not worth cultivating. In Zante, I have been assured, many of the vineyards at that time were rooted up, and the ground subjected to the plough. * In 1837 : see act of Parliament on the subject, at the end of this chapter. t Since abrogated. ■i posed of forty members. Twenty-nine of these are furnished at each election from the several islands, in the following proportion, viz., Corfu, seven ; Cepha lonia, seven; Zante, seven; Santa Maura, four; Ithaca, one ; Cerigo, one ; Paxo, one ;— each of the three last in rotation electing a second.

The other eleven are not elected as such at the time : they con sist of the members of the preceding senate, of the last regents of the four principal islands, and^one of the regents of the three smaller islands in rotation ; and they together constitute what has been denomi nated the Primary Council* Both the legislative assembly and its primary council, are presided over by one of its members, and each has its secretaries. The Senate and Legislative Assembly, constitute the parliament of the Ionian States, the sessions of which are regulated,f and the duration of which is * " A certain time previous to the regular dissolution of parliament, the primary council is required to prepare double lists of the individuals from whom the members of the new legislative assembly are to be elected ; which lists are to be transmitted to each island, at least fourteen days before the " death of the parliament."

The qualification for the legislative assembly is the same as that for the elec tive franchise. Out of the double list, nominated by the primary council (fourteen for instance for the larger islands), half the number are elected hy the Sincliti, by a majority of votes; which election, or rather selection, is final. The Sincliti are, in the first instance, regis tered by the regents of the respective islands, and a return of them is annually made to the senate. + The session of parliament is biennial, commencing the 1st of March, nnd lasting at least three months; it may take place, however, at other times, on emergency, by order of the Lord High Commis sioner, in whom also is vested the power of proroguing parliament. for five years, liable to be dissolved, however, by the protecting sovereign, by an order in council.

Besides the general government exerting control over all the islands, there are local governments, one for each island, consisting of a Resident appointed by and acting immediately under the Lord High Commissioner, and a regent assisted by a municipal council of five, and by an advocate-fiscal, archivist, secretary, and treasurer. The regent and advocate fiscal are appointed by the Senate, with the approval of the Lord High Commissioner ; the archivist and se cretary by the regent, with the approval of the senate; and the treasurer by the treasurer of the general govemment, with the sanction of both the Lord High Commissioner and the Senate. The municipal body are selected and appointed by the joint agency of the Sincliti, and of the resident and regent ; the former, by a majority of votes, returning ten of them.; the regent, with the approval of the resident, selecting five.

The municipal council, acting under the regent, is required to attend, according to the charter, to the following subjects, each member having one for his special care, viz. : — 1. Agriculture, Public Instruction, and objects of National Industry. 2. Commerce and Navigation. 3. Subsistence of the People. 4. Civil Police and Charitable Establishments. 5. Religion, Morals, and Public Economy. Each island is divided into districts, determined by SKETCH OF THE PRESENT GOVERNMENT the municipal council, to which particular officers are assigned, constituting a municipal and an executive police; the former appointed by the respective regents and the municipal council ; the latter by the Lord High Commissioner, with the consent of the Senate. The agents of the municipal police are in spectors of districts, primates (primati communali), and messengers.

The agents of the executive police are lieutenants (luogotenenti di distretto), and their constables ; capi di dccima, and their cernide. The number of these officers are proportioned to the extent of the districts and the size of the villages and their wants, for the purpose of keeping the peace and enforcing the laws. The legal power, which, according to charter, forms a part of the civil government, is exercised by a supreme court of justice (or court of appeal) at the seat of government, and by local courts in the different islands. The former is composed of four mem bers, one of whom acts as a president; two of them are appointed by the Crown, by the Lord High Com missioner's warrant; and two by the Senate. The Lord High Commissioner, and the President of the Senate also form a part of the court, as extraordinary members, acting in particular cases, and especially in instances in which the ordinary members are equally divided in opinion, the Lord High Commissioner having a casting vote, should he and the president differ in judgment.

The local courts in each of the islands are three in number, viz., the civil, the criminal, and one of com merce, independent of the minor offices of justices of peace, for the trial of petty offences. In each court there are commonly several judges. In Paxo, in 1837, there were two and a president: in Cephalonia, including a president, there were ten. The legal officers derive their appointments from the senate.* * The judicial establishments maintained in these islands are very expensive, and the payment of them absorbs a considerable propor tion of the revenue. The yearly salary of each officer was determined by a law of 24th July 1834, according to which the total amount is L. 19,422. As examples, may be inserted the salaries of the respective officers of the courts, in one of the large islands, and also in one of the small, as Cephalonia and Paxo.

Cephalonia. One president, . . . L.425 Four judges, at L. 320 each, . . 1280 Five ditto do., . . 1600 Six registerers, at L.120 each, . 720 Six deputy registerers, at L.78 each, . 468 Four assistant registerers of the first class, at L.65 each, .... 260 Four ditto of second class, L.50 each, . 200 Fourteen ditto of third class, L.35 each, 490 Three messengers at L.30 each, . 90 Four ditto, at L.26 each, . . 104 Paxo. President, , . . . L.250 Four judges, at L.210 each, . . 840 Two registerers, at L.78 each, . . 156 Two deputy registerers, at L.50 each, . 100 Two assistant registerers, at L. 25 each, 50 Two messengers, at L. 20 each, . 40 The members of the Supreme Council of Justice in Corfu were paid SKETCH OF THE PRESENT GOVERNMENT The principal law-officers are selected from the body of advocates, which is very large.

According to a law of 1834, no Ionian subject can practise as an advocate, unless duly enrolled, after election, in the college of his order ; and, according to the same law, in each island such a college should exist, com posed of the judicial body, of the advocate-fiscal, and of two advocates elected by those of their order authorized to make the choice. * at a higher rate; thc two Greek judges had L.600 a-year each; the two English, L.1000; and for some time one of them received L.1900 a-year. * In future it is required that every advocate shall have studied and graduated at the Ionian university ; be a native ; not under twenty-four years of age ; acquainted with the Greek language ; and professing the christian religion. Before any one can be enrolled on the list of advocates, it is necessary for him to make the following de claration, pledging himself to the same by oath : — " Io A. B. giuro di eseguire le Leggi, statute, ordinanze e Regolamenti, che sono in vigore in questi stati, e che potessero in appresso essere stabiliti.

Giuro di non consigliare, o difendere alcuna causa, che sia per mia opinione ingiusta, eccetuate le difese criminali ; di defendere onesta mente e diligemente tutte le cause che mi fossero fidate, e di non arvalorare, e vendere autentico coila mia firma, verun atto che non sia della causa da me stesso patrocinata, o nella quale non fossi consul tore. Cosi Iddio mi ajuti." What effect this new training may have, it is impossible to say. That a great reform is required, appears to be undoubted. From want of principle and integrity, the abuses in the administration of the laws are said to be extreme. " Such things are practised in the courts of law" [says Sir Charles Napier], " which make the people abhor them ;" " where a system of intrigue and of devilry is carried on, that would take volumes to describe."

Hitherto bribery and perjury have been carried so far, and so systematically, that in Zante, Sir Charles Napier was informed " there are regular shops for furnishing false witnesses, at so much a-head." According to charter, the orthodox Greek religion is the established religion of the States ; the Roman Catholic is specially protected, and all other denomi nations are tolerated. The ecclesiastical establishment consists principally of four metropolitan archbishops, viz., those of Corfu, Cephalonia, Zante, and Santa Maura; and of one archbishop, namely, of Cerigo, who are each inde pendent of the others in their separate jurisdictions ; and of two bishops, those of Ithaca and Paxo, acting under the archbishops of Cephalonia and of Corfu. These dignitaries are elected by the clergy of their respective dioceses, by plurality of suffrages and by secret scrutiny, according to the canons and ancient usages of the islands.

The election is subject to the veto of the executive power. The highest authority in the Greek Church is exer cised by the Exarch, whicli office in rotation is filled by a metropolitan archbishop, who, whilst he holds it, is required to reside at the seat of government ; the period of its tenure is limited to two years and a-half. The Latin Church is presided over by a vicar general, who has subordinate to him certain officers, as have also the higher functionaries of the Greek Church. The Greek bishops owe allegiance to the patriarch of Constantinople, as the vicar-general does to the pope.* * The clergy of the higher grades, both of the Greek and Latin SKETCH OF THE PRESENT GOVERNMENT The number of officiating priests is very large, not less, it is conjectured, than one to every fifty inhabit ants.

Depending on their flock for the means of subsistence, they are commonly very ill paid,* and their condition is often miserable. Their intellectual deficiencies will be noticed in the sequel, with the measures in progress to educate the order, curtail their number, and increase their respectability and usefulness. Besides the officers already mentioned belonging to the general and local governments, there are many more connected with the revenue, the customs, public works, ports, the quarantine establishment, and the establishments of public instruction, constituting Church, are paid by Government, by a law of 1833, according to the following rates : — Each metropolitan of the three larger islands, Corfu, Cephalonia, and Zante, L.312 a-year; that of Santa Maura, L.234 ; the bishops of Ithaca and Paxo, and the archbishop of Cerigo, each, L.156; the archbishop, the head of the Latin Church in Corfu, L.265 ; an archdeacon, 380 dollars ; three canons, 264 dollars each. * On an average, they receive from 150 to 180 dollars a-year; that is, from L.32 to L.39, with a house free of rent, which is little better than the wages of a tolerable man-servant in the Ionian Islands, his food provided him.

Some priests, no doubt, receive considerably more, such as are attached to churches, the patron saints of which are popular, and to which many offerings are made, particularly by sailors and the petty traders, before setting sail, or undertaking any thing with which risk is connected. The church of the Madonna, on the little rocky islet at the entrance of the port of Gaja in Paxo, is of this description : no mariner, I have been informed, thinks of passing it, even though only going to Corfu or Parga, almost within sight, without stopping to say a prayer and make an offering. On the same rock, according to a story current in Paxo, Antony and Cleopatra, attended by thirty kings, feasted before the battle of Actium. the civil list ; all of whom, including the Lord High Commissioner, the members of the Senate and of the Legislative Assembly, and the staff of the British Force employed in the Ionian Islands, are paid out of the revenue of the States.* Of the character of the Government, little need be said.

It is obvious that it is more free in appearance than in reality; and that it possesses many ofthe forms of freedom with very little of its substance. Whether this peculiarity, under existing circumstances, be an evil or a good, it is difficult to determine. Taking the most favourable view, it is to be hoped that it may be a preparation for something better: if the people deserve more freedom, they can hardly fail to obtain more ; at present it is very questionable whether order could be preserved, and the interests of * In these islands, no public duty is performed gratuitously. By a law of 1834, L.15,000 are placed at the disposal of the Lord High Commissioner annually, to pay the contingents of his establishment, viz., the residents of the different islands ; two members of the Su preme Council of Justice ; the secretary of the Senate for the General Department, and the treasurer-general.

The salary of the President of the Senate is L.1350 a-year ; of each senator, L.675; and of each member of the Legislative Assembly, L.I 19, besides payment of expenses whilst in attendance at Corfu during the session of Parliament. Each resident of the larger islands had four dollars a-day, and of the smaller, three ; besides army pay as officers, which they invariably are. The pay of the regents, I believe, was similar. Recently, the residents of the larger islands have been allowed L.600 a-year, including their army pay in the amount. The members of the municipal body had each L.5, 8s. 4d. a-month.

Ac cording to a list of public servants given by Sir Charles Napier, at the time he was resident of Cephalonia, the number employed in that island was 223, at an expense of L. 13,385. the country be tolerably attended to, were the con trolling power of the Lord High Commissioner either abrogated or even diminished.* * A striking example of the good effect of exercising the control ling power, alluded to above, was given by the Lord High Commis sioner in 1840, in first proroguing by his own authority, and next dissolving by a mandate from the Queen, the protecting sovereign, the sixth parliament, in consequence of the intemperate and factious proceedings of the Legislative Assembly, on the occasion of discussing the new codes of laws, then submitted to the Parliament, — that branch of the united parliament of the Ionian States, maintaining — in opposition to the law advisers of the crown, in opposition to the Senate and the Lord High Commissioner — that they alone had to exercise the functions of instituting codes of laws, and of making any and all the changes in the Ionian constitution, without the inter vention of the Senate, and of proposing them to the protecting power for ratification.

In this determination, they considered themselves not as a branch of the Ionian Legislature — not as a part of the par liament — but as an independent constituent assembly, such as they imagined that to have been in the name of which the constitution formed by Sir Thomas Maitland was framed and promulgated. Had the Lord High Commissioner yielded on this occasion, or had he not been supported by her Majesty's Government at home, serious evils might have resulted ; for there is reason to believe that, at that time, a design was on foot, abetted by a widely spread party, to create dissension and disturbance in the Ionian Islands, in Greece, and in the Turkish empire, with a view to the formation of a Republican League, under the protection of Russia, preparatory to a prostration under absolute government, — a form in which the nobles might cal culate on recovering all their former oppressive power, and see a road opening to them leading to wealth and influence, at Petersburgh, or on the pleasant banks of the Bosphorus.