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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference

41TC.O.88

885

3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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probably lead to fresh attempts as soon as the winter was over. On Monday I suspended Martial Law in every part of the island, except the district of Paliche (Lixuri), which, having sheltered and fed Vlacco and his companions for the last three weeks, was selected as the scene of their trial and punishment. On the Tuesday the troops which had been sent to Cephalonia from Ithaca and Zante returned to their respective quarters; and on Wednesday Her Majesty's steam-vessel "Sharpshooter" sailed for Corfu with Major King's detachment of 150 men, which she embarked at Scala.

No. 3.

Cory of a DESPATCH from Earl GREY to the Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands.

(No. 28.) SIR,

Downing Street, October 6, 1849.

I HAVE received and laid before the Queen your despatches, reporting that serious outrages upon life and property had taken place in the Island of Cephalonia, but had been promptly suppressed by the employment of the military under proclamation of Martial

Law.

I have to convey to you the expression of Her Majesty's deep concern at the perpe- tration of these deplorable atrocities, and her entire approval of the energy and judgment with which you have so successfully devoted yourself to their suppression; her full sense of the admirable conduct of the troops; the satisfaction with which she has observed the support given to you by the Ionian Senate, the Archbishop of Cephalonia, and various persons of consideration and loyal inhabitants in that island; and the hope and confi- dence which she feels that the present prompt vindication of law and order will deter the evil-disposed from any further attempt to disturb the public tranquillity.

I have, &c.

The Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands.

No. 4.

(Signed)

GREY.

Cory of a DESPATCH from Earl GREY to the Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands. (No. 35.) SIR,

Downing Street, November 22, 1849.

I HAVE received your despatch No. 64 of the 30th ultimo, forwarding, first, a copy of a letter addressed to you by the President of the Senate of the Ionian Islands, stating that at an extraordinary sitting the Senate had recorded its entire concurrence in the measures adopted by you for the restoration of law and order in Cephalonia, and had conveyed an expression of its thanks on the occasion to yourself and to the officers and men of the British army and navy; and secondly, a copy of a procès-verbal of a sitting of the Municipal Council of Cephalonia, at which sums of money were voted out of the Municipal funds to yourself and to Colonel Trollope for the purchase of testimonials to commemorate the sense entertained by the island of the services rendered by yourself and by that officer upon the same occasion.

2. It is satisfactory to me to learn that the measures which you adopted for the suppression of the late insurrection are so highly appreciated by the Ionian Senate and by the Municipality of Cephalonia, and I congratulate you upon receiving so marked an expression of their approval of your conduct.

3. But with respect to the testimonial to be presented to you by the Municipal Council, it is my duty to call your attention to the Colonial Regulations, of which I inclose an extract, which prohibits Governors from receiving presents.

4. Although the Lord High Commissioner is not precisely in the same position as the Governor of one of Her Majesty's Colonies, still I conceive that the principle of this Regulation ought to be considered applicable to his case; and I cannot approve of his accepting for his own use a present voted to him either by the Legislature or by the Municipality of any of the islands.

5. If the practice of the Lord High Commissioner receiving such presents should become established, it would necessarily interfere with his maintaining his proper position, and standing above even the suspicion of being in the slightest degree influenced by his personal interests in his public conduct. But I have the less difficulty in pointing

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out to you the necessity of abstaining from creating such a precedent on this the first occasion of the kind which has come under my notice, because I believe the vote of the Municipal Body to have been a well-merited tribute to the services you had rendered to the island.

The Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands.

Inclosure in No. 4.

EXTRACT from Colonial Regulations.

I have, &c. (Signed)

GREY.

18. HE is prohibited from receiving or giving presents on his own account. 19. Any present which may be delivered to him must be disposed of on the public account; and as the present which it may be necessary to give in return will have to be provided at the public expense, the cost of it ought not to exceed the amount realized by the sale of the present received, except when particular circumstances render it proper that some additional expense should be incurred.

No. 5.

Cory of a DESPATCH from Earl GREY to the Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands.

Downing Street, February 25, 1850.

(No. 51.) SIR,

I HAVE received your confidential despatch dated the 22nd ultimo. It is with great satisfaction that I have perused so complete a vindication of your conduct, and of that of Her Majesty's troops, in very trying circumstances. At the same time I cannot help thinking that you attach undue importance to the anonymous calumnies which you answer. I believe that in this country their contemptible character has been perfectly well understood, nor could any man of common intelligence believe, upon the unsupported assertion of an anonymous writer in a newspaper, that you had been guilty of the wanton barbarity imputed to you, or had found in the officers and soldiers of the British army, which has always been no less distinguished for its humanity than its valour, the willing instruments of such atrocities. These idle tales carry with them their own refutation, nor can I doubt that every impartial man will adopt the same opinion with myself that your conduct has been judicious, and far more really humane than an undecided and tempo- rizing policy which would have allowed the insurrection to continue, with all the disastrous consequences with which, under such circumstances, it must of necessity have been attended.

Without being able at this distance to form an opinion on each individual case of punishment which was inflicted, yet, judging from the statements before me, I do not doubt that the powers of martial law were generally exercised in a spirit of moderation and humanity, and with a sincere desire not to carry severity beyond what was judged to be absolutely necessary for the restoration of order, and for the protection of the peaceful and loyal inhabitants from the outrages and violence to which they have been exposed. The conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel Trollope, and of the officers and soldiers who served under him, appears to Her Majesty's Government to have been throughout this affair entitled to the highest praise, on account of the strict discipline which was maintained in circum- stances so well calculated to have relaxed its restraints, as well as for the vigour, promp titude, and courage with which the dangers of the crisis were met.

'The Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands.

I have, &e. (Signed)

+

GREY.

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Martial Law in Jamaica.