576 



Political Affairs in June. 



[July 1, 



men selected from amongst the most vir- 

 tuous aud the most enligbtened by reflection 

 and experience. If the success coriv.spond 

 with our just expectations the fundamental 

 laws which will bn established in this council 

 ■will give to the minds of our faithful subjects 

 consolation, confidence, and the pledge of a 

 happy liiture, by effacing from their remem- 

 brance those chimerical projects which can 

 only occasion bitter regrets and prolonged 

 adversity. These laws will secure to them 

 those resl blessings which a wise and paternal 

 government is bound to dispense ; but the 

 peaceable enjoyment and permanency of 

 which can only beguurauteed byan invislable 

 attachment to our most holy religion, to the 

 practice of private aud public virtues, to tlie 

 rights of legitimate sovereignty, and to the 

 rigorous maintainance of order, and the form 

 of things legallj' established. 



" Meanwhile, as well to encourage the 

 good, and those who have only been misled, 

 as to restrain the perverse, we defer the ma- 

 nifestation of our sovereign intentions, in 

 order that the interests of justice may be com- 

 mensurate with that clemency which it is so 

 natural for us to practice. Ferdinand." 



Naples, May Ibth. 



TURKEY. 



In Constantinople continual arrests 

 are taking place, and arms have been 

 found concealed in the Greek churches. 

 This accounts, perhaps, in some mea- 

 sure for the severity which has been 

 practised against the dignitaries. Ac- 

 counts from the Archipelago state, that 

 the Idriots, Ipsariots, and Speciofs, 

 were inviting the different islands in 

 that quarter to declare for the Greek 

 cause. Tlieir shipping was extremely 

 numerous, and well equipped. The 

 Turkisli fleet, which is now ready to 

 sail, has been destined for that quarter. 

 The Dragomen of the Porte, and nine- 

 teen other Greeks have been decapitated 

 or hanged in the course of one clay. 

 The remainder of the troops now ready 

 for action have been ordered to proceed 

 to the Bosphorus, where t^iey were to 

 embark on board (he vessels stationed 

 there to receive them. The Police are 

 quite useless ; they make no attempt to 

 stop the licentiousness of the soldiery. 



The Vizier arrived with a cortege of 

 20,000 persons on the 23d of April, and 

 on that day the patriarch, four bishops, 

 and three priests, were hanged; two of 

 the bishops over the doors of their 

 church. On Easter Sunday, Gregory, 

 the Patriarch of Constantinople, 74 

 years of age, was just going (oread High 

 ilass in the Patriarchal Chapel, when 

 Le was seised by order of the Sultan, 

 and hanged at the door of the temple. 



a mode of death which, in the eyes of 

 all (he Greeks, is most infamous, and 

 must therefore excile Ijo'.indless hatred. 

 All tile archbishops or bishops who were 

 intlie church, to celebrate Easter, were 

 cither executed or thrown into prison. 

 The congregation tied out of the church 

 to the neighbouring houses of the 

 priests; but many were murdered l>y 

 the populace. The patriarch had, on the 

 21st of Marclt, solemnly proclaimed in 

 tlie chapel, the curse and ban of the 

 cimrch against all Greeks wlio attempt- 

 ed to withdraw from the Turkish yoke. 

 After the stranguhition, a band of mi- 

 serable ragarautfins ware ordered to cut 

 ^he rope, and drag tiiebody, tied by the 

 feet, to the arsenal, when the execu- 

 tioner threw it into the Bosphorus. It 

 is easy to conceive (he indignation which 

 these scenes have excited tiirougliout 

 the Greek church : where the Patriarch, 

 for his public character and private vir- 

 tues, was as much honoured as the Pope 

 was in the Latin Church m the 12th cen- 

 t ury. Every day the clergy were bound 

 to pray for him and for the Synod, and 

 this daily recollection must increase 

 their rage. The number and riches of the 

 clergy must render them extremely 

 formidable. On Mount Athos, there are 

 20,000 monks; in tlicMorea above 2,400, 

 who possess alone a revenue of above 

 U 18,000 francs, i. e. about a tenth part of 

 the riches of the country. In the rest of 

 Greece tliere may beabout 20,000 papas. 

 Considering the well-know n fanaticism 

 of tile Greek Church, it is easy (o 

 imagine the dangers to which the Porte 

 has exposetl itself by tliis proceeding. 



Tiie janizaries, it is said, have re- 

 fused to march. They pretend that by 

 tlieir laws they mr.st remain at Con- 

 stantinople, to defend that capital till 

 the SuKan can put himself at their head, 

 and lead them to battle. The Ramadan 

 begins this year on the 31st of May, and 

 ends on the 29t!i of June. It must be 

 strictly observed under pain of death ; 

 and it is never till the I5th of the moon 

 of Shelval, which falls on the 15th of 

 July, that civil and military operations 

 re-commence In the Ottoman empire. 

 Many liuudred Christians have been 

 murdered in Constantinople by the 

 Musselmeu ; and, the streets of Pera, 

 where the Foreign Ministers reside, 

 liave been burnt, and all the inhabi- 

 tants, without distinction ofageorsex, 

 sacrificed to the fury of the Turks. 

 Many perished under the sabres of the 

 barbarians, and others in the flames. 



Allocution 



