THE IONIAN ISLANDS. (Hansard, 23 July 1850)

§ MR. HUME

then rose, in pursuance to notice, to call the attention of the House to the causes of the late riots and proclamation of martial law in Cephalonia, and proceedings thereupon; and into the grievances of the inhabitants of the Ionian Islands. He should not occupy more time than was actually necessary to state his views on the subject. Various causes had prevented him from introducing the subject at an earlier period of the Session, and he was now forced to bring it forward at a period when the House was almost dissolved and dissipated by heat. The House had become in reality a Select Committee. Having visited these islands in 1839, and having since that period taken great interest in their welfare, he felt very strongly how much they had been neglected. He wel recollected the proclamation in which His Britannic Majesty declared to the inhabitants, through the Chief Commissioner, his deep interest in the welfare of his subjects, and intimated that such measures would be adopted as would promote the prosperity of commerce and agriculture, and extend the blessings of freedom. In 1814, the inhabitants were told that they should enjoy the blessings of their own free constitution until a better one could be adopted. Notwithstanding these promises, they were assured in the official papers which had been laid on the table during 176 the present Session, that the inhabitants were semi-barbarous; that declaration being made by the Lord High Commissioner as an excuse for the very severe measures which he had adopted. He did not know that he had ever risen to address the House with more regret than on the present occasion. He had to complain of the measures of one with whom he had long been associated in that House, and whom he had there always regarded as the friend of civil and religious liberty. There was something in the possession of power which seemed entirely to change men. They often heard of public men going from one side to the other, in order to put on the livery of office; but the extraordinary change which took place in those who were entrusted with power was really an enigma which he could not explain. He could most sincerely declare, that when the present Lord High Commissioner was appointed, he considered the appointment one of the best that the Government had made; but he was sorry to confess that in every respect he had been disappointed; and he deeply regretted to find that a man who had been the idol of a large, public-spirited, and liberal constituency, and whose public and private conduct had promoted the cause of civil and religious liberty, should have undergone such an extraordinary change within a few months after his arrival in these islands. He did not intend to read at any length the official documents. He should introduce one or two extracts from native newspapers to show what was the opinion entertained in such quarters with respect to these proceedings. He had first to complain of the abolition of constitutional, and of the establishment of martial, law, without any necessity whatever. Secondly, he had to urge the duty of taking measures to fulfil the expectations of the inhabitants. The hopes of the Ionians had been disappointed through improper appointments, through the misconduct of the Colonial Office, and through neglect; and he believed that, could they have anticipated that such would be the result of thirty-two years' superintendence by the British Government, there was not a man amongst them who would not have preferred the Government of the Turk or the Russian to that of the English. Although that was a severe reflection, it was still a just one, as was evident from the testimony of the Lord High Commissioner himself. For seven or eight years he (Mr. Hume) battled against the acts of Sir 177 Thomas Maitland; but those acts were light in comparison with what had been done recently. What were the circumstances of the case? In September, 1848, there was a disturbance, which led to an amnesty being proclaimed by Sir. H. Ward, who promised his assistance towards creating peace and maintaining contentment. From a despatch which he held in his hand it appeared that in August, 1849, one of the chiefs of the island of Cephalonia was burned in his house along with four of his servants. It was not quite clear whether or not this chief was shot, but his house was burnt, and he himself consumed in the flames. The evils complained of should have been put down; but by whom had they been committed? By robbers, as Sir Henry Ward himself stated in his despatch. He stated that upon the morning of the 30th of August, 1849, having received intelligence of an outbreak in Cephalonia, instead of directing the police immediately to take measures to arrest the parties implicated, he determined by eleven o'clock to proclaim martial law at once, lie did so without using the other powers he possessed, and without further information as to the extent to which the disturbances existed. That appeared distinctly in the second page of the despatch. It then proceeded to inform the noble Lord at the head of the Colonial Office that in consequence of certain reports then circulated, the Lord High Commissioner had done all he could to ascertain how far the disposition to outbreak had extended, and he had soon seen reason to apprehend great danger. Now he (Mr. Hume) asked what reason there could have been for apprehending any danger? The greatest number of the disaffected did not exceed 200 or 300 at any time, and the officers reported that those men were armed with knives. Captain King and Colonel Trolloppe stated that very few of them had guns, and they must have been very bad ones, for after the exposure of the British troops for three hours, there was only one man wounded, a sergeant, who was shot in the jaw. There appeared in Sir Henry Ward's account of the matter a great deal of contradiction, and certainly much candour, for he had exposed his own cause, and showed clearly how completely he had been mistaken. There might have been some panic or alarm, but he had all the time a large and sufficient force at his command. What was now complained of by him (Mr. Hume) was, that without 178 having ascertained whether the movement was general or local, Sir Henry Ward had proclaimed martial law, and informed the noble Earl the Secretary of State for the Colonies that he had done so under the powers granted to him by the Ionian laws. No such powers had been granted to him. They all knew what martial law meant, and what its effects were. The proclamation of martial law operated as a suspension of the constitution, and abolished all constitutional law while it continued in force. It appeared to him to have been most monstrous to have suspended the constitution in those islands upon such trivial grounds as Sir Henry Ward had done; and he unhesitatingly pronounced his opinion that there existed no sufficient grounds for doing so—for substituting the mere will of the Lord High Commissioner for the constitution of the country. It was an outrage upon the people, and totally unjustifiable. He was not prepared to say that the troops had not conducted themselves with great propriety; but the persons who gave orders for the arrests and executions were responsible. It appeared by Sir Henry Ward's own statements that there was no necessity whatever for the course he had taken, and that he was altogether under a misapprehension in supposing that the police and military forces could not have easily arrested the robbers and settled the peace of the country if they were allowed to do so. After the Lord High Commissioner became aware there were only a few robbers to be arrested, he continued martial law, and suspended the constitutional laws from the 30th of August until the 24th of October following. Admiral Parker was sent for, and arrived in the Ionian Islands with his line-of-battle ships, and yet while they surrounded the islands martial law was continued. In fact, it appeared to him that Sir Henry Ward had placed himself in such a position as would justify inquiry as to whether he should be continued in power, and be again enabled to exercise such arbitrary authority. It appeared throughout the despatches that there was a great dread of secret societies in those islands; but, be this as it might, he lamented that the understanding of Sir Henry Ward had been so biassed that he had been led to act with unusual precipitancy. In his letter of the 1st of September, Sir Henry Ward stated that Colonel Trolloppe had 900 men under his command. Would not such a force have been sufficient to check the tumult? 179 He trusted the House would agree with his Motion for an inquiry into the subject. It appeared he had an effective military force, together with Admiral Parker's fleet, and no real apprehensions of danger could therefore exist. There was no excuse whatever for placing the islands under martial law—it was a grievous offence, and an inquiry into it should take place. He, therefore, hoped the House would agree to the Motion he had to propose. He brought it forward for the consideration of the House, because he wanted to see peace established, and the principles of the British constitution carried out by the representatives of this country. As to the letters referred to in the despatch, they were worthless as evidence in favour of the Lord High Commissioner—the writers of them of course obeyed every nod of his, and they wrote anything he suggested. However, he had been compelled to prorogue the assembly since then, which was rather indicative of the opinions entertained on the subject. The atrocities, the executions, floggings, and burning of houses, which took place during the continuance of martial law, was enough to mortify any man. It appeared there were sixty-five individuals tried by court-martial. Forty-four were sentenced to death, twenty-one were executed, seven were imprisoned, eleven were subjected to corporal punishment, and the remainder were acquitted. All the trials were under martial law, for at the time there was no other law according to which they could take place. There were altogether no less than ninety-six instances of flogging; and he might say to those uninformed of the fact, that that form of punishment had never been practised in the Ionian Islands; it was considered brutal and abhorrent to the feelings and opinions of the Ionians. The only persons ever subjected to it there were seamen in the British service, and no punishment more humiliating could be inflicted. Many lives had been lost, and yet the Government had instituted no inquiry. Was it to be said that whatever the Lord High Commissioner thought proper to do in these islands—to hang, shoot, and flog as he pleased—there should be no inquiry into his conduct? He (Mr. Hume) was really ashamed to say that the communications of the Secretary of State for the Colonies upon the subject, showed the most perfect indifference. Martial law had been proclaimed in the islands for twenty-one days, before any intimation of the fact was made to the 180 noble Earl; five letters were subsequently written; and his Lordship's answer was not received by Sir Henry Ward until the month of October. It seemed that the course pursued had, he (Mr. Hume) was sorry to say, been approved of; and he therefore asked, on behalf of the British public and the Ionian people, whether any inquiry had taken place into the occurrences, or whether any was to take place? He wished the Government would answer that question. He had stated sufficient to lay the ground for an inquiry, and he thought it ought not to be refused. He wanted a commission to be appointed to proceed to the Ionian Islands to investigate the whole matter, and report the evidence respecting it. Such an inquiry was demanded, and it was a privilege which the Ionian people should not be denied. He should not enter for one moment into the details contained in the voluminous accounts of those matters which had already reached this country. They were indebted to the Daily News for the publication of a great many of them, and they were well deserving of the serious attention of Parliament. They had had an inquiry into the state of Ceylon under similar circumstances, which occurred there—a commission was also demanded to examine witnesses in Ceylon; but, after waiting with patience for a long time, he regretted to say no commission was issued, and the Committee had not as yet prepared their report. His opinion was, that the best, and indeed the only, means for the proper investigation of the complaints of the Ionians against Sir Henry Ward, was by appointing two or three men fit and qualified to be sent out to those islands to take the evidence on the spot, and ascertain the real facts. The people of these islands were not barbarians, as they were described to be—they were eminent for civilisation, to his own knowledge, thirty years ago. He believed a commission was the only means whereby an inquiry could be effectively carried out to the satisfaction of the House or the public. He, therefore, prayed that an inquiry might be made into the causes of the late riots and proclamation of martial law in Cephalonia, and into the grievances of the inhabitants of the Ionian islands generally. He had presented petitions to the House from persons who complained of their houses having been entered, and their goods seized, under the authority of the police. Surely it was a matter of importance that such 181 grave matters as these should be inquired into. The power of exercising that dread ful scourge, martial law—he wished heartily they could get rid of it—was a remnant of barbarity in the British constitution, and a reflection on the country. It ought to be got rid of; and when abused, especially as it had been in the Ionian Islands, the parties aggrieved were en titled to a strict and searching inquiry.

LORD NUGENT

seconded the Motion. He said, in all sincerity he would gladly have given a silent vote, and much more gladly no vote at all on this sad question, and that for many reasons. But, placed as he was, he should consider he was guilty of an act of baseness if, in the face of the transactions which had taken place in the Ionian Islands, and which he believed were still going on there, he should shrink from supporting the Motion of his hon. Friend the Member for Montrose. It was within his (Lord Nugent's) knowledge that portions of the evidence, and not unimportant portions, affecting this sad question, had been suppressed and kept back by the Government. He contended that this question had been most grossly misrepresented in the despatches; and the people in those islands, many of whom were his own countrymen, dealt with unfairly, cruelly, and illegally. If injustice had been done to that people, he wished that that injustice, so far as it could be reparable, should be repaired; and he sincerely asked that justice should be done oven to the character of the per son representing this country in the Ionian Islands. If that person could come out blameless from the inquiry, no man would more sincerely rejoice at that result than he (Lord Nugent). No one rejoiced more than he at that Gentleman's appointment, because he (Lord Nugent) believed that he was a person who would fill the office of Lord High Commissioner with discretion, humanity, and justice; but from all that had come to his (Lord Nugent's) know lodge—from things which he knew had improperly, as he thought, been kept back and suppressed by the Government—ho did think there was an à priori case of so 182 much want of firmness and want of discretion, and—what that often led to—so much injustice, cruelty, and violence in that Gentleman's proceedings, that he (Lord Nugent) must support any inquiry which would throw light on those proceedings. He begged to call the attention of the House to a passage in one of Sir Henry Ward's despatches, dated September 7, 1849. In that despatch he used these words:— I am perfectly aware that I run the risk of being denounced as a persecutor and a tyrant for taking these steps, but I have no choice; I have to deal with semi-barbarians, as recent events have proved, and I must treat them as such. Now he (Lord Nugent) wished to divide this inquiry into three parts. He would first inquire into the grounds on which the Lord High Commissioner felt himself justified in believing that there was an extensive and organised conspiracy in the Ionian Islands. He (Lord Nugent) would take the despatch dated the 6th of October, 1849, by Sir Henry Ward, to Earl Grey, in which he found the following passage:— 1. I received, on the 30th September, a visit from a person, who, after insisting upon seeing me in private, acquainted me with many mysterious precautions; that he was an officer of high standing in two secret societies established at Corfu, and having extensive relations with Italy and Athens. 2, Having expressed some doubts as to the accuracy of his statement, and some curiosity as to Ids object in making it, he offered to satisfy me as to the first by bringing me his diploma as lieutenant general in the Universal Brotherhood (La Fratellanza Universelle), if I would give him 30l. to take it out of the hands of a friend, who had advanced the money in the first instance, retaining the papers as a security; and with regard to the second, he admitted that he was wretchedly poor, that he saw no prospect, at present of succeeding in any of their schemes, and hoped that the Government would treat him liberally if Ids information proved to be valuable. 3, I thought that it would be wrong to lose so good an opportunity of learning many things which it was desirable to know, but difficult to get at. I gave my informant, therefore, the 30l., and the promise of subsequent recompense, and he in return brought me, two hours afterwards, his diploma and the oath of his society, only stipulating that they should be returned to him, and be found upon his person in proper form by the police, should the Government think it necessary to order any arrests, in which case he must be dealt with in precisely the same manner as the parties whom he accused. He also gave me the names of several Italian refugees, who, by a gross abuse of the hospitality accorded to them, had joined the society immediately after their arrival in Corfu; and of two Corfiots, Signori Calogerà and Dr. Quartano; and one Cephaloniot, Dr. Valiano, whom he 183 stated to be with himself at the head of the whole fraternity, and in whose houses he conceived that papers of importance would be found, although after the breaking out of the Cephalonian insurrection, of which the society was apprised a week before it happened, and the unfavourable turn taken by events in that island, many documents had been made away with, and much pains taken to conceal those that remained, He (Lord Nugent) would ask what possible security could there be for the truth of the story told by that pseudo lieutenant-general? But he would go further, and say that a discreet Government would have shrank from employing such means for obtaining such evidence. In the extract he had quoted, the House would observe there was an hiatus filled up with black stars. What did the House imagine was the reason for that hiatus? Probably they would imagine the blank was occasioned by a desire to omit the name of the informer, or the names of certain persons denounced, whom it would be wrong to bring before the public. No such thing. He knew what the passage was which had been omitted. He had seen it, and would state it. It was as follows:— I found him so frank a traitor, and so utterly regardless of the obligation of an oath, that I thought it would be wrong to lose so good an opportunity of learning so many things that it was necessary to know. It was upon the information of this person—he would not call him a miscreant—he would only make use of the appellation employed by Sir Henry Ward himself—it was upon the information of this frank traitor, who was altogether regardless of an oath, that Sir Henry Ward proceeded to make domicile visits to the houses of several respectable citizens, in search of treasonable correspondence.