§ MR. SMOLLETTsaid, he would beg; to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies, When the British Protectorate of the Ionian Republic will absolutely cease; and, whether or not the present Lord High Commissioner, Sir Henry Storks, has published an Act, dated the 22nd April, 1864, introducing into the Seven Islands a purely democratic Constitution based upon universal suffrage, the right of voting being conferred upon every inhabitant above the age of twenty-one years, persons under examination for felony and others previously convicted being alone excepted; if so, whether the action of Sir Henry Storks in this matter has been sanctioned by the Colonial Office, and whether the arrangement made is considered by Her Majesty's Government to be calculated to consolidate the Greek Kingdom, and is likely to promote the political security of the King of the Hellenes?
§ MR. CARDWELLsaid, in reply, that i on the 2nd of June there would be a transfer of the protectorate from Her; Majesty to the King of the Hellenes. Sir Henry Storks had not published any Constitution, either democratic or otherwise, with a view to the future Constitution of the Ionian Islands. But Sir Henry Storks had received a request from the Government of the King of the Hellenes that certain electoral lists might be prepared for their use. Those lists were accordingly drawn up, and would be found available by the Ionian authorities. He had only to add that Her Majes- 635 ty's Government entirely approved of the course pursued by Sir Henry Storks in that matter.