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his rank, passed on to Buckarest. A numerous guard of honour, in which the hundred Turks were included, with secret instructions to put the Pasha to death, went a few miles out of town to meet him, and the state carriage of the Hospodar was also sent to receive him. This carriage is one of peculiar construction, and does not conceal any part of the persons sitting in it. The Turks took up a favourable position, stationing themselves in such a manner as to be certain of not missing their aim. When the coach, with the Vizier in it, came abreast of them, a volley of no less than a hundred muskets was fired into it, which not only pierced the unfortunate victim with several balls, but also killed the Hospodar's Greek master of ceremonies, who attended him in it, the coachman, and several other attendants, as well as horses. The confusion which ensued may easily be imagined. I was among the immense, number of spectators, of all ranks and conditions, who had come out of the city to witness the ceremony of the Grand Vizier's approach; and, seated on horseback, I was conversing with a very beautiful Greek young lady, betrothed to the master of ceremonies who had gone on to meet the Pasha in the Hospodar's coach. We were in sight of the scene of this horrid butchery; and perceiving the confusion and cries which followed the unexpected firing, it was impossible for us not to guess at once the cause. The poor girl instantly leaped out of her landau, and, with frantic screams, ran towards the spot, to learn the fatal truth of what had taken place. Several persons went after her, and could not stop her without using force. She was, with great difficulty, conveyed back to her carriage, where she fell into a swoon, and in that condition she was hurried home. When her fears, on the next day, received the dreaded confirmation, she shut herself up in her room, and remained there for two years, receiving no visits but those of her nearest relatives, and hardly taking food.*

Remiz-Pasha's body was taken to Roosstchiook, a Turkish town on the right bank of the Danube, to receive burial; but his head was not, as is customary, sent to Constantinople to figure at the gates of the seraglio; from this peculiar circumstance it is inferred that the Sultan's hatred of him arose from some personal cause to which the sanction of political expediency could not be publicly given.

There are other instances without number which occur in Mahmood's reign, of Hattisheriffs written with no other view than to disguise real intentions, and to convert well-grounded suspicion into confidence, in order to strike unawares, and with more certainty of success. A history of them would certainly fill up a good-sized quarto, and might prove a great curiosity in literature, and in the annals of Mahometan barbarism. That the Sultan should continue to have recourse to such a system of perfidy, is not so much to be wondered at, as the infatuation and wilful blindness of many of his subjects, who still suffer themselves to be the dupes of an artifice so often exploded.

This beautiful girl, who had from her infancy felt an attachment for the Greek killed on this occasion, was the sister of Michael Sutzo, who, subsequently appointed Hospodar of Moldavia, joined the Prince Alexander Ypsilanti in the early part of the Greek Revolution.

+ Such a work might serve as an answer to the many advocates that "our ancient ally" has lately met with in this country.-Ed.

It is a fact not less positive than it may seem incredible to those who have had no ocular demonstration of it, that the existence of the most perfect model of a Republic is to be traced in the very country where despotism reigns with most unbounded sway, and in the very midst of the most hideous abuses of arbitrary power. Such, however, is to be denominated the political condition of the European subjects of different states, who have colonised a portion of the city of Smyrna, where they are found occupying a town almost entirely their own, in which the flags of all the maritime powers of Europe daily flow over foreign consulates, as if to assert a jurisdiction distinct from that of the legal possessors of the land. Independent, by ancient treaties with the Porte, of Turkish laws and local authorities, they are exempted from all kinds of taxes and contributions; and even their landed property is allowed to partake of these as well as other privileges. Amenable to no other judicial tribunals than those of the consuls of their respective nations, through their official channel alone have they to answer the claims of the native subjects, and the grievances of the Turkish magistrates. Their children, and farther descendants born in Turkey, are not on that account considered as subjects of the Sultan; and unless they have once consented to pay the haratsh, or capitation-tax, they are acknowledged and respected as subjects of their fathers' sovereign. A great number of English, French, Dutch, and Italian merchants, and others, have long been established residents at Smyrna. They have constituted themselves into factories, under the sanction of their respective governments, presided by their consuls, having their own public notaries, treasurers, chaplains, churches, hospitals, and burial-places; and many individuals among them possess freehold estates in lands, houses, and other buildings. The means of education afforded by the place not being such as to inculcate in their children those national predilections which it is proper they should entertain for the mother-country, they are invariably sent there for a certain number of years; most of them return to the place of their parents' residence, and devote themselves to the profession of commerce. The close intimacy and intercourse this state of things has naturally occasioned among the Franks, has given rise to international marriages, which have, in the course of time, almost formed one extensive family of them; and if new residents did not outnumber the deceased, there would be few persons who by this time were not closely related to each other. The language universally adopted in this society is the French, and it is spoken with extraordinary correctness; but all the Frank children are brought up in the habit of speaking Greek Turkish, and Italian besides, and many, of course, are taught English. Their manners and customs have be

I have frequently been surprised to find how generally a mistaken notion prevails in this country, that nativity on British soil confers alone the rights of a Briton; and that his children, if born in a foreign land, have forfeited those rights. Several Acts of Parliament have long since set this matter at rest in a different manner; and if reference be made to the proper Chapter in the first Volume of Blackstone's Commentaries, the fact of the national rights of persons born abroad of a British father, being precisely the same as those of persons born on British soil, will be found placed beyond all possibility of doubt.

+ The Dutch Consulship at Smyrna has been made hereditary in the family of Count de Hochepied more than a hundred years since.

come a mixture of those of every European country; and their spacious and commodious houses are fitted up on the same principle. During the winter season, dinners, musical soirées, card-parties, balls, and private theatricals, are the principal amusements. There is a casino, or splendid club-house, where its members, composed of the most respectable Franks of the place, resort of an evening to read the daily and periodical journals of every part of Europe, to play at whist or billiards, or to pass the time in conversation. Balls are given here once a week throughout the carnival at the expense of the members, each of whom is at liberty to introduce as many strangers as he pleases. The number of persons who attend them often exceeds six hundred.

Without seeming aware of the political form which a society so constituted has gradually assumed, the Franks have unconsciously acquired the habits of republicans; and their love of freedom, so far from having been affected by the manifestation of those excesses of despotism which they are every day doomed to witness, on the contrary, gathers new force from the hatred that so frequent a display of it is calculated to inspire.

Such are the peaceable and worthy members of the Frank commonwealth at Smyrna, whose kind hospitality I have frequently experienced, and among whom I have spent the happiest days of my life. In thus expressing the affectionate recollection I shall ever be bound to entertain for the generality of them, I owe it to truth not to overlook the fact, that there are among them persons who, long invested with the consular authority, and many years accustomed to the trust more extensively reposed in them in Turkey than in other countries, from peculiar circumstances already mentioned, have acquired habits of arrogance and command very inconsistent with the limited nature of their official attributes. But if this propensity of some consuls for an encroachment of power receive not that check to which it is legally liable from the very persons whom it is most calculated to affect, it must be confessed that the fault lies chiefly with the latter. Whilst I was at Smyrna in 1824, a remarkable occurrence took place, the curious particulars of which will perhaps tend to give strength to the above remarks:

A Greek Rayah merchant, long persecuted by the Pasha (as had been almost all the Greeks of the place after the breaking out of the insurrection in Greece) received information one day that he was to be immediately seized and beheaded. He lost no time in putting his person in safety by repairing on board his Majesty's ship the Hind, at that moment the only British ship of war in port, commanded by Captain Lord John Churchill. Some days after, an Ionian vessel lying close to the Hind, being on the point of sailing, Lord John sent the Greek refugee on board, with directions that he should be landed at the nearest place of safety in the Archipelago. A Turkish guard accompanied by an officer attached to the British consulate, soon after came to the Ionian vessel for the purpose of examining the list of her passengers, and their written permits to leave the port.* The refugee,

*Tuis regulation has only been established since the Greek insurrection, for the purpose, I suppose, of preventing the unfortunate persecuted Greeks from making their escape.

not having taken the precaution of concealing himself during this visit, and, having no permit to exhibit, was seized by the Turks and thrust into their boat. Whilst they were conveying him on shore to the office of the Consul, Lord John Churchill, who had watched all these proceedings from his quarter-deck, speedily sent his own boat, well manned, after the Turks, from whose hands the poor Greek was rescued without difficulty, and brought back safe to the Hind. When the report of what had taken place was made to his Britannic Majesty's Consul, this gentleman thought proper to fly into a violent passion. He summoned the Ionian captain before him, and after upbraiding him for disobedience to his commands, in having received into his vessel a person not legally authorised to depart, ordered him to prison as a punishment for this violation of his duty. Now, it is necessary to say here that the prison of the English consulate at Smyrna is a small, dark cell, in which confinement for any time is a punishment sufficient for crimes much heavier than the mere deviation from a consul's regulations. Lord John, on hearing what had befallen the Ionian, immediately addressed a letter to the Consul in explanation of what had taken place; and as his Lordship was properly the responsible person, he requested that the Ionian should be set at liberty, and a complaint addressed to himself, should there appear any sufficient ground for one. Not receiving any answer from the Consul, he repeated his application, and then a verbal message was returned, purporting that the Consul was performing his own duty, which he understood perfectly, and he saw no reason for Lord John Churchill's interference. The naval commander, offended at the injustice of the proceeding itself, and at the contemptuous manner in which his representation was treated, replied in writing that if the prisoner was not set at liberty within a given time, he would land with his marines and take him by force. He was again verbally informed that the Consul should put himself at the head of his own Turkish Janissaries, and give his Lordship and his marines the reception they deserved. The landing was therefore resolved upon, and took place at eight o'clock at night. Meanwhile every preparation was made in the consular-house to oppose a determined resistance to the attack. Lord John knocked at the marine gate, and was told that it should be opened to no one but himself; a parley ensued, in which it was finally agreed that his Lordship and his attending officer should be alone admitted. A violent dispute now arose between the parties, who resorted to high words. The Consul's anger, it seems, was raised above all means of control. He told Lord John that if his ancestor, the great Duke of Marlborough himself, had used him in a similar manner, he would have met with the same return. They separated, however, without taking any decisive step; and Lord John, whose sole object had been to intimidate the Consul into compliance by the display of a military force, returned on board with his marines to meditate on farther proceedings. It happened very opportunely that the Euryalus frigate came in early on the following morning, and Captain Clifford, who commanded her, being senior officer to Lord John, undertook the discussion of this extraordinary business. It was finally settled on the conditions that the Ionian captain should be liberated and allowed to proceed on his voyage; and that the Greek, among whose creditors were several merchants of the British factory, should be delivered up to the

Consul, to remain in his safe custody until he made a satisfactory arrangement with his English creditors, after which, instead of being allowed to be placed again in the power of the Turks, he should be sent away from Smyrna in an English ship of war.

After the correct, though necessarily brief, narration of the particulars relative to this singular occurrence into which I have entered, I will not attempt, by the obtrusion of any comments of my own, to guide the reader's opinion as to the more or less share of blame attributable to the British consul and the naval commander. Dwelling, however, more especially on that part of it which has reference to my preceding observations on the duties of a consul, I cannot help, in the first place, expressing some regret that the matter was not, as it certainly was on both sides intended to be, brought under the notice of his Majesty's Ministers, as by their decision the questionable right assumed by our consuls in Turkey of condemning individuals to unlimited imprisonment, and which, owing to certain local circumstances, has never till this moment been disputed, would have been set negatively at rest. If magisterial attributes belong to the official character of a consul, and he is willing to take upon himself the responsibility of exercising them without control, the laws of his country should at least be his guide, instead of his own caprice. But those laws, in reality, have never acknowledged in him any other capacity than that of a mere arbitrator in matters of commercial difference between the King's subjects residing in a foreign country; nor do they in any manner delegate to him the powers of the Lord Chancellor, which, again, our consuls in Turkey assume in all matters of local bankruptcy and equity, and enforce by coercive measures of their own. As accredited agents, they were originally intended by the Government to watch over the due observance of those privileges conceded to its subjects by special stipulations in ancient treaties; but it was never in the least contemplated that the right of omnipotence, so scrupulously denied to the Turks over British subjects residing in their dominions, should be transferred to the consuls of their nation.

THE NEW SINGER.

An Epigram.

"You've heard the new Singer, of course," is the cry

At once of the humble and proud.

"Not yet!" is my calm philosophic reply ;-
"I hate to encounter a crowd.

Determined to wait till the multitude flag,
I'll not draw my cash from my fob, till
I quietly may hear and see the Son-tag,
Without the Son-rag and Son-bobtail."

S.

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