Proceedings in Parga and the Ionian Islands, with a series of correspondence and other justificatory documents

Preface

. ON the first appearance of the publication from which the present emanates*, very ex traordinary exertions were made to obstruct its circulation, and prevent the diffusion of the truths contained in it. But the impar tiality of a British public defeated these in terested efforts, in spite of the influence of those with whom they originated. A second edition of the work has indeed been for some time demanded; but, in de ference to superior authority, it has been withheld : and to this resolution I should still have adhered, had not an insidious at tempt been made, in a late number of the Quarterly Review, to traduce my character, and destroy that of my work. An anonymous attack, in a party publica tion, would have been treated with contempt, * Proceedings in Parga and the Ionian Islands, published in May, 1819-

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. VI since what proceeds from such a source, can have little weight with the upright and unprejudiced, were it not that the falsehoods of the Reviewer are obviously advanced in the hope of escaping exposure, from a notion that I should be deterred from any further proceeding, by a consideration of the influence al ready alluded to. Superior authority and justice, however, will never league with a Quarterly Reviewer in crushing an oppressed individual; I have therefore determined no longer to maintain a silence, which would sanction those misrepresentations, and in so doing, fix the most inju rious imputations on my character. In thus again appearing before the public, I have availed myself of the opportunity to make ample and important additions to what has been already published: the extended materials, and the improved arrangement of the present volume, make it, properly speak ing, not a second edition, but a new work.

I may be permitted to add, that malevolent invective has been met with contempt, whilst groundless assertions, and deliberate fabrica tions, have been encountered with moderation,

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. VII exposed with a strict regard to truth and pro priety, and confuted by the weight of au thentic documents. In the course of the work, a few examples are given of the unsupported assertions of the Reviewer, that the reader may have an opportunity of comparing them with the statement of the facts incontestably authen ticated. The Reviewer, in addition to other honourable practices, undertakes to refute statements which I have never advanced, and in one in stance has even ventured to distinguish a passage with inverted commas, as quoted from the " Proceedings in Parga," &c. though there is not a shadow of authority for it in the whole work. He has, moreover, carefully avoided any reference to the documents con tained in that publication, though they con stituted its greatest and most essential part.

Such a course can only have been adopted from a conviction of their undeniable authen ticity, and a full consciousness that they corroborated my own assertions. In this part of the work I have confined myself to the refutation of such of the Re-

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. VIII viewer's attacks as are directed against my self, leaving to others assailed from the same quarter, the task of supporting their own statements. I shall not, I trust, be thought to have de viated from my prescribed plan of avoiding, as much as possible, all political discussion, in offering here an outline of my situation at Parga. I was sent to communicate to the Par guinotes, that the cession of their country to the Porte had been decided upon. As it was foreseen that so unexpected an intimation might excite them to acts of desperation, the garrison was at the same time considerably reinforced. Though this was considered a necessary precaution, measures of concilia tion were not neglected, and I was instructed to give the citizens a solemn assurance, that all those who should be unwilling to sub ject themselves to the Turkish government, would be at liberty to emigrate; and that in case of so doing, they should find an asylum and protection in the Ionian Islands, to which they should be transported free of all expense ; that they should not leave

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. IX their country without receiving a full pecu niary indemnification for the property they abandoned ; and that if there should here after be any modification of this declaration, it would be in their favour, and certainly not against them. This duty was discharged under the con viction that such promises could never be violated, and the Parguinotes were accord ingly persuaded to place full reliance on the justice and generosity of the British government, which would neglect no possible means of alleviating their distress. These exertions were not ineffectual, and though the Pargui notes could not but deeply feel the rigour of their fate, in being thus compelled to relin quish home, country, and political existence, they would have submitted without a mur mur, if these promises had been duly realized.

The arrival, however, at Parga, of a British and an Ottoman Commissioner, with a large retinue, and the equivocal mode of their pro ceedings, soon convinced the Parguinotes that these promises were to be disregarded ; and the natural consequence was, that they lost all confidence in the British authorities.

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. X Still I exerted myself to quiet their appre hensions, or, at least, to reconcile them to their lot; but while thus employed, I was represented by Ali Pasha, and by the British agents, as acting in opposition to their views, and defeating the interest of both governments: these representations led to my re moval from the command, and have been artfully used as a pretext for the persecu tion I have subsequently, and to the pre sent moment, endured. Those injuries ul timately compelled me to resort to judicial proceedings against Sir Thomas Maitland, of which a full account is hereafter given. Such of the transactions relative to Par ga, as occurred during my residence there, are related with the confidence warranted by a personal observation, while the narrative of what took place before and after it, is the fruit of researches made, and infor mation taken from the best sources, and given with the full persuasion of their authen ticity. It only remains to say, that this publication was already prepared for the press, when the Papers relating to Parga, moved for by

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. XI Lord John Russell, on the 29th June last, were printed and laid before the House of Commons. It is a source of great satisfac tion to me that they have been published in time to afford an opportunity of noticing their contents, since I am now relieved from the disagreeable task of answering concealed opponents, and of refuting anonymous slan der. These papers contain a letter from Sir Thomas Maitland to Earl Bathurst, of which the refutation of my work is evidently the object. But to my astonishment, in perusing it, I further discovered, that the article in the Quarterly Review appears to have been al most wholly got up from this dispatch ; it is formed of the same ideas, it pursues the same course of argument (being in several instances a literal copy), and it may even be said that it is characterized by the same disregard of truth and honourable dealing, since here also a passage is given as a quotation from my book, although no such words are any where to be found in it.

It is but justice to the sagacity of the Lord High Commissioner's friends to suppose, that when they compiled the article in the Review, they never expected

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. that the document from which it is composed would meet the public eye. The efforts lately made in some foreign, as well as English journals, to bolster up the reputation of the author of this letter, on the strength of its own arguments, as well as Lord Lauderdale's attack on my conduct, in the last session of Parliament*, are additional and most imperative reasons with me to make known the true state of a transaction, in which the reputation of some distinguished characters is involved. Although the treatment I have experienced from Sir Thomas Maitland has been such as to warrant a total disregard of all personal consideration on my part, I nevertheless really regret the necessity of exposing the conduct of an officer holding so elevated a situation under his Majesty's Government. In so do ing, I trust I shall be exonerated from all suspicion of unworthy motives, and be ac- * The Papers on the subject, for which Lord Lauderdale moved on this occasion, and of which I have spoken at p. 128, had not appeared at the end of the session, nor am I aware that they are to this day produced.

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. XIII knowledged to have acted solely in self-de fence, by laying the truth before the public. I may also, I trust, be permitted to appeal to four-and-twenty years exertions in the British service, in proof of my devotion to the Go vernment of my adopted country ; of the manner in which those exertions have been noticed, I forbear to speak, further than to express my warm sense of gratitude for the distinctions bestowed. But what are the considerations which could justify any man in keeping silence, when the publication of an official document, from an individual high in office, has in direct terms charged him with " positive falsehood?" It might, nevertheless, be requisite to apo logize for thus obtruding on the public the affairs of an humble individual, did I not feel justified by the recollection that they in volve a very important question connected with those peculiar circumstances attendant on the cession of Parga.

Both sides of the question are now before the public, and in deciding on its merits, it should not be forgotten that the issue is be tween a man holding one of the highest offices

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. under the Government, enjoying some of its greatest distinctions*, and strongly supported by family and parliamentary influence, and an isolated officer, who, for the strict and con scientious discharge of his duty, has become the object of the most unaccountable and inveterate persecution, instead of receiving, in recom pence for his services, civil as well as military, the means of enjoying an honour able retirement. The documents here produced, indepen dently of their intrinsic value, are indispen sable to the complete elucidation of the sub ject; several papers, however, both official and private, have still been withheld, from fear of too much swelling the volume. The same reasons have excluded the originals of several * The Right Hon. Sir Thomas Maitland, Grand Master of the most distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, Knight Grand Cross of the most honourable Military Order of the Bath, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order, a Member of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council, a Lieutenant-General, Colonel of the 10th Regiment of Foot, Commander of the Forces in the Mediterranean, Governor of Malta and its Dependencies, and his Majesty's Lord High Commissioner in the Ionian Islands.

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. XV papers, in addition to the translations here given. There are, on the other hand, some few papers admitted, which do not so directly bear upon the subject, but it is, nevertheless, hoped that they may be found interesting, as well as illustrative of the others. And finally, there will be found among the documents some of a complimentary nature, which mo tives of delicacy would have prompted me to suppress, were they not necessary to give an idea of the character I enjoyed in the Ionian States, and thus assist the reader in forming an opinion upon the origin of those feelings which must have led to my persecution. It should, however, be observed, that the style of the people of the Levant, is generally figu rative and inflated. It need scarcely be added, that the occu pations of a military life, have left me little leisure for the cultivation of literary studies ; a plea which it is hoped will be admitted in extenuation of those defects of style and com position which are but too obvious. I cannot conclude without availing myself of this opportunity to express my profound

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. XVI gratitude to the Commander-in-Chief, for the protection which his Royal Highness has been pleased to afford me in this trying crisis. Having no other claim upon his Royal High ness's favour, than the justice of my cause, and the injuries I had sustained, the support which I received in opposition to great in terest and influence, must have proceeded from a high sense of justice, and the generous dictates of a noble heart. London, 10th January, 1821. As it will be no immaterial point in my answer to the Quarterly Review, to shew that the article sets out on a false assumption, the tendency of the following Correspondence to establish that fact, will be a sufficient apology for its introduction. Letter from the Author, to the Editor of the Edinburgh Review. London, 5th June, 1820. Sir, The writer of an Article in the last Quarterly Review, not satisfied with attacking me personally, misrepresents the very words of the " Proceedings in Parga," &c. which he professes to Review, and artfully leaves his readers to conjecture that I am the " Foreigner resident in London," whom he insinuates to be the promoter of the motion made last year in Parliament by Sir Chas. Monck ; the inventor of the particulars jelated in the Edinburgh Review ; and also the author of a pamphlet, published at Paris, " which they have reason to believe was manufactured in London."

Un der these circumstances, and in order to expose the falsehood of the writer, I beg you will be pleased to state in answer, whether I have ever had any direct or indirect communica tion with you upon the subject of Parga, or any other. I have the honour, &c. &c. &c. b Letter from the Editor of the Edinburgh Review, to the Author, in reply. Edinburgh, 8th June, 1820. Sir, I have this instant had the honour of receiving your letter of the 5th, and in answer to it, beg to state, that to the best of my knowledge and belief, you had no share, di rectly or indirectly, in preparing the article on Parga, which appeared in the Edinburgh Review, and that you have never been in any correspondence with me, on that or any other subject. The materials for that article were all furnished by a per son with the best opportunity of information : and no reference was made to you, except as the author of a work, which has appeared with your name.

I have the honour, &c. &c. &c. F. Jeffrey. Letter from the Author to Mons'. Amaury Duval, Member of the Royal Institute of France. Londres, 5 Juin, 1820. Monsieur, Quoique je n'aie pas 1'honneur d'etre connu de vous, je prends la liberte de vous adresser le dernier nume>o du Quarterly Review, ouvrage p6i iodique et critique ; il consent un article 6crit dans l'objet de justifier la cession de Parga & la Porte Ottomane, ainsi que ceux qui ont 6t6 charges de 1'exScuter. A cet effet l'auteur de l'article en question prend pour texte le titre d'un petit ouvrage que j'ai public ici en Anglais, il y un an, et d'un ecrit Fran§ais, publie & Paris par M. Amaury Duval, et il dirige ses invectives contre l'un et l'autre. Une des insinuations du Quarterly Review est que, "1'Ex pose (Frangais) des faits qui ont precede et suivi la Cession de Parga," a ete 6crit ici; et en parlant d'un " Etranger r£si dant A Londres," il laisse conjectuier que c'est moi qui en suis l'auteur.

Mon intention 6tant de refuter les assertions et les fausse t6s dirig^es contre moi dans cette critique, au moyen de documens authentiques, je vous prie, Monsieur, de vouloir bien declarer dans votre r6p»nse si j'ai jamais eu avec vous, directement ou indirectement, aucune communication sur quelque sujet que ce soit, et si rien peut justifier la supposi tion que j'aie eu la moindre part & l'ouvrage qui a paru sous votre nom. J'ai l'honneur d'etre, &c. &c. &c. Letter from Mons'. Amaury Duval lo the Author, in reply. Paris, le 10 Juillet, 1820. Monsieur, Je vous remercie de m'avoir fait connaitre votre ou vrage sur Parga et les isles Ioniennes. Je l'ai lu avec d'au tant plus d'interet que j'y ai trouve la preuve d'une grande partie des faits contenus dans l'opuscule que j'ai publie & Paris, sous le titre d' " Expose des Fuits qui ont precede et suivi la Cession de Parga d la Porte Ottomane."

Nous partageons l'un et l'autre l'honneur d'avoir 6te— non seulement critiques, mais violemment injuries dans le No. 45 du Quarterly Review; vous, Monsieur, pour avoir raconte des faits dont vous aviez 6t6 tSmoin, ou vous aviez meme figure comme acteur; moi pour avoir doniuS quelque pubb2 XX licite aux trop justes reclamations d'une peuplade indigne ment trahie par des agents du ministere Anglais. Dans Pamas de faussetes dont se compose l'article du Quarterly Review, on y pose en fait que l'opuscule que j'ai publie a Paris a ete fabrique a Londres, et Ton y donne & entendre que vous en £tes l'auteur. Mon silence pourrait donner quelque ombre de vraisemblance a cette insigne faussete. Je declare done ici : " 1. Que je n'ai jamais eu avec M. le Lieut.-Col. de Bosset, ni directement ni indirectement, aficune relation; que je ne connais de lui que son nom, et cela pour l'avoir vu cite honoraldement dans les memoires publies en diverses langues, sur la cession de Parga aux Turcs.

" 2. Que f Expose que j'ai fait imprinters Paris, est veri tablement l'ouvrage d'un Parganiote fugitif; qu'il m'a 6t6 envoye par un personnage aussi distingue par son rang et sa fortune que par son noble caractere (je le nommerai par la suite s'il m'y autorise) ; que si je ne me suis point refus6 a y mettre mon nom, e'etait pour lui donner plus d'authenticit6, e'est que, de plus, je n'avais aucun doute sur la verite des faits qu'il contenait, lesquels m'etaient attestes par des per sonnes d'une loyaute reconnue." J'espere que, d'apres une declaration aussi franche, on ne tentera plus, Monsieur, de vous rendre responsable d'un ecrit auquel vous ne pouvez avoir eu aucune part. C'est avec autant de bonnefoi et de justice que le Quarterly Review m'accuse d'avoir injuri6 la nation Anglaise dans un avertissement de quelques lignes, qui precede F Expose dont je suis 6diteur.

J'ai dit, et je repete, que la cession de Parga est une preuve qu'd faut ajouter & taut d'autres, du Machiavelisme et de la pertidie du Gouvernement Britaunique ; mais je n'ai point parle, je ne parle point du peuple Anglais. Les nations sont-elles done solidaires des sautes, des crimes de leurs gou vernements ? Trop souvent, il est vrai, elles en subissent la peine; mats la honte, du moins, reste pour eux. Non, je u'eus jamais l'intention de jetter le moindre blame sur une estimable nation, dont j'honore le caractere, ou je me fais gloire de compter quelques amis. Je crois assez la connaitre pour fetre certain que, dans l'affaire de la cession de Parga aux Turcs, elle a desapprouve hautement la con duite des agents du ministere. Dans ce meme cahier du Quarterly Review, oil Ton feint de se montrer si sensible aux pretendus outrages faits si la nation Anglaise, par quelques lignes ecrites contre son gouvernement, dans ce meme cahier, dis-je, on insulte grossi^re ment, en deux differents articles, au peuple Fran§ais ; on l'attaque et dans son caractere et dans son honneur.

C'est une tache que personne ne peut mieux remplir, et qui vous honorera dans l'esprit des honnetes-gens, d'autant plus qu'elle n'est pas sans danger. Vous allez vous exposer de rechef a la haine et aux persecutions des hommes puissants dont il vous faudra devoiler les coupables manœuvres et les injustices. II est des temps et des lieux oil Ton ne saurait &tre impunement genereux et v^ridique ! Mais sans vous connaitre person nellement, je crois pouvoir juger de vous pour moi: les menaces n'ebranlent pas plus que les promesses celui qui, fort de son droit, ecrit d'apres sa conscience. On trouvera done, en vous,j'eu suis sur, lejustum ac tenacem propositi vi rum. J'ai l'honneur, &c. Amaury Duval. CONTENTS. Pag-e Preface v Parga and the Ionian Islands . . . . , 1 Descriptive and Historical Account of Parga, particularly since its Connexion with this Country, with copious explanatory Documents, &c. and a Refutation of the Mis-statements of the Quarterly Review 43 Papers relating to the Government of Cephalonia; Monument erected there in Honour of Great Britain, &c 125 Ionian Academy 155 General Observations on the Ionian Islands 160 Project for Armorial Bearings, or Seals, for the Ionian Islands 165 Correspondence relative to a Mission to the Coast of Africa 176 Correspondence with Sir Henry Torrens, and Sir Frederick Adam, relative to the General Order of Sir Thomas Maitland of the 26th September, 1817 187 Correspondence with Earl Bathurst, relative to the Circumstances which occasioned the Author's Return to England in 1817 195 Examination of Sir Thomas Maitland's Letter to Earl Bathurst, relative to the Cession of Parga , 323 Report of the Trial in the Court of King's Bench, between the Author and Sir Thomas Maitland; with explanatory Notes, and Correspondence ERRATA.

Page Line 28, 4, for constitutes, read constitute. 38, 6, insert a ; at the end. 68, 4, from bottom, for connected, read concerted, 101, 12, read approximant. 1 14, 20, at the end, for o, read at. 122, 5, insert a , after Parguinotes. 147, 14, at the end, for o-, read so-. • 183, penult, for y, read Ay. Z&nJan, Published- "by John ttZtrrvn 2SSL. PARGA, &c. &c. IN the discussion of the present question, it is with great reluctance, that I venture to bring before the public, an affair of a personal nature ; feeling that none but the strongest reasons could authorize such a measure. My apology must rest on the peculiar nature of my case, and its close connexion with the subject under consideration, as detailed in the an nexed statements and documents ; to which I en treat the reader's attention, fully persuaded that, on a candid perusal, it will appear that no other course remained for me.

To illustrate those documents more fully, it may be necessary to offer some preliminary details respecting my past services, and the peculiar circumstances in which I am at present placed. These details shall, on every account, be rendered as concise as possible. My first commission in the British army was dated in 1796, from which period, almost up to 1817, I have, in a military or civil capacity, been constantly and actively employed. u In 1799 and 1800, I was attached to Mr. Wick ham, on his mission to the combined armies on the continent, and followed their operations during those memorable campaigns. After the battle of Zurich, and the passage of the Alps by the Russian army under Soworroff, I was intrusted by Mr. Wickham with dispatches and verbal communications for Lord Whitworth, his Majesty's Minister Plenipotentiary at the court of St. Petersburg.

After a residence of four months in that metropolis, during which I lived in his Lordship's family, and was presented to the Emperor, I rejoined the armies in Suabia. Duty called me for a short time to England, and on my return to Germany I was taken prisoner and detained in Holland ; but was exchanged, and returned to England in 1801. On the news of the death of the Emperor Paul, I was sent by his Majesty's Government on a par ticular service to Berlin and St. Petersburg. In 1803 I was promoted from Meuron's regiment to a company in the King's German Legion; and went with that corps, in 1805, on the expedition under Lord Cathcart to the north of Germany; in 1806, I accompanied the same corps to Gibraltar, and in 1807, to the siege of Copenhagen; in 1808, I went with the expedition under Sir John Moore to Sweden, and in the same year to Portugal.

After the first campaign in the peninsula, I was ordered on service to England. I was afterwards promoted to the rank of Major in de Roll's regiment, which I joined in Sicily in 1809, with seven hundred men raised by myself*. I was then detached with two companies of the regiment to the Ionian Islands, which had recently been taken possession of by the British forces, under General Oswald. After the siege and capture of Santa Maura, in which the detachment under my command was employed f , I was appointed, by that officer, to the military command and civil government of the island of Cepha lonia, the largest and most populous of the Ionian states. In this command I continued four years, at the end of which period, some private affairs re quiring my presence in England, I obtained a temporary leave of absence.

On my arrival in London, in March, 1814, I was promoted to a Brevet Lieutenant-Colonelcy, on the continent of Europe (and included in the general Brevet of June following), and without any soli citation on my part, immediately after appointed, by Earl Bathurst, to be agent of his Majesty's go vernment, for accelerating the organization of the new levies which were then forming in Flanders, Belffium, and on the left bank of the Rhine, and to provide them with arms, ammunition, stores, * See Appendix, No. I. + See Sir John Oswald's Letter, Appendix, No. IV. and also London Gazette, June 19th, 1810. b2 &c* The war being concluded on the occupation of Paris by the allied armies, my mission, so far as regarded its chief object, then terminated; but I was directed to survey and report upon the line of fortresses on the Belgic frontier.

The result of that operation was favourably noticed by the Duke of Wellington, and I afterwards joined his Grace, at his own request, while personally inspecting the same line. In September, 1814, I returned to England, and was nominated a Companion of the order of the Bath. Towards the end of 1815 I returned to the Ionian Islands, to resume my command in Cepha lonia; but this did not take place, as, on my arrival at Corfu, in March, 1816, I found that Lieut.- * Extract from Lord Bathurtt's instructions, dated 19th March, 1814. *" I have selected you for the execution of the duties I have in view : and the high recommendations I have received of your conduct while commanding in Cephalonia, persuade me that I could not have made a more proper choice." In this place, and under my present circumstances, it would, perhaps, have been desirable to have introduced the whole of the instructions I received, on that occasion, from Lord Bathurst, as a proof of the extent of his Lordship's favourable opinion ; but not feeling justified in publishing what may be considered a confidential communication, I have confined myself to quoting this one passage, as a testimony of the advantageous situation I enjoyed in his Lordship's estimation before I became* connected with Sir Thomas Maitland.

General Campbell had been relieved by Sir Thomas Maitland, who had assumed the command of the Ionian Islands, as his Majesty's Lord High Com missioner. Although a perfect stranger to this officer, he show ed me unusual attention and civility, and indeed distinguished me with several marks of confidence. His conversation with me generally turned on the affairs of the Islands, in which a long residence had given me some experience ; and, at his request, 1 communicated to him some ideas respecting their internal condition *. He soon appointed me to the command of Zante ; but, in consequence of a nomi nation from his Majesty's ministers to a mission to the coast of Africa, I remained but a short time in that command, and proceeded, in June, 1816, to Malta. Various obstacles and delays were, how ever, dexterously thrown in my way, and effectually prevented the accomplishment of the object of this mission. 1 communicated to Earl Bathurst, and to Sir Thomas Maitland, then in England, the reasons which had compelled me to relinquish so desirable a duty f ; and, having at that period been placed on half-pay, by the reduction of de Roll's regiment, I proceeded to Italy, to await orders from home.

Another officer, who, it appears, had been previously intended for the African mission by Sir Tho- * See Appendix, Nos. VI. VII. + See Appendix, No. mas Maitland, was, some time afterwards, appointed to it; and the difficulties which I had encountered at every stage, and which ultimately obliged me to give up the object, were speedily removed. I unexpectedly received at Rome, in December, 1816, the intimation of my having been appointed, by his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, an Inspecting Field Officer of the Ionian militia, accompanied by an order from Sir Thomas Maitland, to repair to Corfu. On my arrival, however, I soon perceived, as well from his conduct relative to the above-mentioned mission, as from his general demeanour towards me, that what 1 had before considered as a favourable disposition, had either been a delusion, or that his sentiments had undergone a total change.

After a few months' residence at that place, I was appointed to the command of the fortress and territory of Parga, where I remained four months, under circumstances of peculiar difficulty, having to contend against the machinations and intrigues of a faithless, covetous tyrant, who was indebted for his extraordinary success to the powerful assistance of unlimited bribery and corruption; and of agents whose proceedings unfortunately tended in a much greater degree to the furtherance of his views, than to the support of the national honour. I was superseded in this command by order of Sir Thomas Maitland; and on my return to Corfu, Major-General Sir Frederick Adam, commanding in the absence of his Excellency, appointed me President of a special commission, or civil criminal court, formed for the trial of certain subjects of the Ionian Islands.