THE IONIAN ISLANDS. (Hansard, 2 December 1852)

MR. HUME
said, he now had to move for Copies of the Correspondence between. the Secretary for the Colonies, and Sir Henry Ward, Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, since February, 1852. He thought the right hon. Baronet the Colonial Secretary could have no objection to the production of these documents, particularly as, on a previous occasion, he expressed his readiness to afford every information on the subject. Within the last three years no fewer than sixty-eight persons had been "relegated," as it was styled, but which meant "banished" by the police from the Ionian Islands. He had felt it his duty to move for these papers last year, but they were never produced, until after Parliament had been dissolved. Since then a new Parliament had 827 been assembled, and prorogued by the Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands. In fact, no Government whatever existed in those dependencies, save the will of one man. When these papers were produced, he would be prepared to show that acts of most brutal absolutism and ferocious tyranny had been perpetrated by Sir Henry Ward, which were more atrocious, and reflected more discredit upon the character of the British Government, than any conduct pursued by the Austrian Government towards the Hungarians. The Ionians had a free constitution when they were placed under the protection of this country by the Treaty of Paris in 1815, and it was unjust to deprive them of it. He was anxious to have these papers laid upon the table of the House, so that every Member might have the papers in his own hand, and not take the facts contained in them merely upon his statement. It would be his duty upon an early occasion to call the attention of the House to those papers.

§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTON
said, he heard with very great satisfaction one statement of the short speech of the hon. Member for Montrose—and which he hoped the hon. Gentleman would not forget—namely, that on obtaining those papers he was determined to bring the question before the House. He was perfectly ready and willing to produce the papers moved for, and had the hon. Gentleman asked him for them privately, he should have been just as ready and as willing to have placed them at his disposal. The hon. Gentleman, however, could not forego the opportunity which the Motion gave him of repeating those attacks on Sir Henry Ward and the Government of the Ionian Islands which he had already made on two occasions, in language equally harsh and equally unjust with that which he had chosen to employ that evening. It was but justice, however, to Sir Henry 828 Ward to state that upon one occasion, when the hon. Member made an attack upon that Gentleman relative to his conduct in the administration of his Government, he had only found thirteen Gentlemen to support him. He (Sir J. Pakington) had brought down to the House some of the Correspondence to which the hon. Gentleman alluded. With regard to the banished members of the Legislative Assembly, he wished, in common justice to Sir Henry Ward, to read one or two extracts from the Correspondence, in order to show the real character of the conduct of Sir Henry Ward towards them, and how far it was from meriting the character of absolutism which the hon. Gentleman, in so off-handed a manner, ascribed to it. Signor Domeneghini was one of the gentlemen so banished. To an interposition in his favour, on the part of his wife, what was Sir Henry Ward's reply—that of the ferocious tyranny imputed to him by the hon. Gentleman? Let the House judge:— I shall be ready and happy to release Signor F. Domeneghini, whenever he thinks proper to comply with the conditions which I have felt it to be my duty to propose, by giving me his word that he will abstain from seditious attempts for the space of twelve months. So that if he only promises to be a good boy for the space of twelve months, he will obtain his full liberty. In the next despatch Sir Henry Ward then wrote with regard to the relegated members generally:— I took advantage of the farewell visits paid to me by all those members who have any pretensions to a character for moderation to make a fresh offer to the gentlemen now in confinement under the high police power at Cerigotto, through the medium of Count Lunzi and Signor Corrianiti, two of the members for Zante. I was sincerely in hopes that the Session would not have terminated without a law being passed that would have enabled me to put an end to all questions connected with high police. But as this expectation has not been realised, I must now decide what course to take respecting these prisoners, and I have resolved to propose, once more, to release them, provided they will give me their word to abstain from taking an active part in politics for twelve months. Next, there was the case of Signor Montferrato; and here he (Sir J. Pakington) would state to the House not only Sir Henry Ward's proposition to the banished, Member, but also the answer which that Gentleman thought proper to return:— Before I set out on my visit to the southern, islands, I had the honour to inform you that I had directed my secretary, Mr. Fraser, to acquaint 829 Signor Montferrato, who was relegated to the island of Merlera under the high police power in October, 1851, that I was willing to allow of his return to Cephalonia upon a simple promise that he would abstain from taking any part in political agitation for the next twelve months. In making this proposal, I neither asked nor expected from Signor Montferrato any renunciation of former opinions, hut made the condition of his release-analogous to what would be termed in England, in the ease of a man convicted of seditious practices, entering into his personal recognisances to keep the peace for one year. As Signor Montferrato, in his reply, which I have the honour to enclose, not only rejects this very reasonable proposal, but tells me plainly that as soon as he is freed from the bondage of high police, he shall devote all his energies to the prosecution of the work so violently interrupted until it is brought to its legitimate end—the liberation of his country,' I have no alternative but to leave him where he is, until he learns to entertain more rational views. These extracts would, he thought, convince the House that the object of these seditious enterprises was really to throw off the authority of Her Majesty, and to establish some other form of government. Now, as to the remonstrance of the Parliament, which had not long ago been brought under his consideration, he was surprised to see that it had only received three signatures; but, upon looking to Sir Henry Ward's despatch, he found a full explanation of this significant fact. Parliament there was constituted of several parties, as it was in this country, who had all joined for party purposes to resist the Government measures; but when the remonstrance came to be signed, there were only found three persons who would join in the particular form of words in which it was drawn up. The ultra-liberal party would not agree to any form of remonstrance, as they believed, by subscribing to a document of that kind, they would be acknowledging the authority of the Crown of England, which they were by no means willing to do. Now, this showed how necessary it was to exercise caution in dealing with these gentlemen; and if the hon. Member for Montrose had applied to him in private, instead of making a public attack upon the Governor, he (Sir J. Pakington) would have at once assented to the production of the papers, and have shown him that the conduct of Sir Henry Ward, instead of having deserved censure, entitled him to great praise for his extreme moderation.

§ LORD JOHN RUSSELL
said, he was glad that the right hon. Gentleman the Colonial Secretary had taken the present opportunity to defend the conduct of the 830 Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands. For his (Lord John Russell's) part, he thought that the Governors of distant dependencies, who were called on to act in cases of difficulty, were entitled to have their case fairly stated by those who were entrusted with office at home, and that they should not be subjected to misrepresentation. He owned, therefore, that he was extremely pleased to find that the right hon. Gentleman had discharged his duty in this instance with such alacrity and with such ability. It ought always to be recollected that those persons who were opposing the Government in Zante were not opposing it for the sake of obtaining more liberty under that Government, but for the purpose of severing the connexion between them and the British Crown, and placing themselves under some other form of government. It ought also to be recollected with respect to the powers of high police, Sir Henry Ward had offered to relinquish them upon exceedingly liberal terms. These persons so complaining were only endeavouring to incite the people to insurrection against British authority, and Sir Henry Ward had erred rather upon the side of too great liberality than from any desire to exercise any undue authority.

MR. HUME
said, he was very glad that the noble Lord (Lord John Russell) had spoken, because he and the Government were all in the same boat upon this subject: one was as bad as the other. Sir Henry Ward had offered to give up the powers of high police if they would give up the liberty of the press, and publish only what he pleased. This was the proposition which he had made to the Ionian Parliament; and because they had refused it, he had prorogued them. They were quite right not to give up the palladium of their liberties. Sheridan, in one of his eloquent speeches, said, "Give me the liberty of the press, and I care not what you do—I will meet the strongest opposition." So far as to asking questions, they were all witnesses how he had been treated already. He would not expose himself to any insult, and all his questions should be put publicly. He pledged himself within ten days after those papers were laid upon the table of the House to bring the matter under its consideration. As to thirteen Members only voting with him, he would remind the right hon. Gentleman that in 1829 be proposed the repeal of the Corn Laws, and upon that occasion he was left in a minority of thirteen. He 831 had, however, lived to sec that Motion carried.