Maltese, butcher, ran against him. The lad, irritated by having his uniform soiled, gave the animal a kick. Almost instantly the owner mortally stabbed him with a knife, and fled to the cathedral. Owing to some diffidence in the governor, out of respect to the popular prejudices, if such gentle terms can be applied to the transaction, the murderer was allowed to remain in the sanctuary; and the bishop was only solicited to deliver him up toj ustice. This injudicious mildness was equivocally answered. The governor grew more firm, and demanded the ulprit. The clergy perceived that the sanctuary might, in the end, be forced; and they facilitated the escape of the murderer.

"It will not be surprizing, if, out of this felonious affair, circumstances arise to exalt the horns of the priesthood. Inferior delinquents may take sanctuary with impunity; and, should it become necessary to violate the privilege of sanctuary, the disregard of ancient law and precedent may be plausibly complained of. In a case of such atrocions murder, as that which I have related, the governor would have been supported by the sympathy of the people; and, before the priests could have been able to poison their feelings, he might have dragged the butcher even from the very arms of the bishop. One act of well-timed decision is worth a million of expedients. Such procedure, as the governor ought to have adopted, would have abrogated in Malta the ecclesiastical power of barbouring criminals.

"It has been urged, in excuse for the indecision of the general, that the privilege of sanctuary formed a part of those ancient legal customs which we had engaged to respect. But an engagement to

connive at the protection and escape of delinquents could never be obligatory, because it is contrary to the law of nature and nations. The man who subscribes to such a principle, becomes himself a criminal. There is, however, a better reason for the abolition of sanctuary in Malta than reason itself. I mean to the priests. Henry VII. of England procured a bull from Rome to put an end to it in his dominions. Although his successors have renounced the supremacy of the pope, the papists must admit that the kings of England have inherited all the uncancelled privileges.enjoyed by their ancestors; and therefore, as the successors of Henry, they have a regular ecclesiastical right to abolish the privilege of sanctuary, wherever their jurisdiction extends. From the moment that the island fell under the English crown, the priestly privilege of defrauding justice legally ceased to exist.

"History.-Malta was first known to have been ruled by an African of the name of Battus, who was an enemy of queen Dido, and subdued by the Carthaginians. From them it fell into the hands of the Ronians; and the Saracens severed it from their empire. Roger the Norman, king of Sicily, baving, in his turn, expelled them, it remained attached to the Sicilian monarchy till the emperor Charles V. gave it to the knights of St. John, after their expulsion from Rhodes. French, under Buonaparte, surreptitiously obtained the possession, during the last war, but were, soon after, compelled to surrender it to the British.

The

"Trade.-The effects also of that ruinous infirmity in our foreign policy, which has, hitherto, led us to make conquests in war, for the express purpose of afterwards re

signing

signing them, is very visible in the state of the trade of this island. In the course of my voyages and travels, I found that all the countries to which the British have still access, were supplied with colonial produce by the Americans. With Sicily and Turkey the Americans were in the practice of holding direct intercourse, although neither the Sicilian nor Ottoman governquents are on any terms of correspondence with that of the United States. I found, also, that the coffee and sugar, in the market of Malta, was brought there by Americans, direct from Cuba and St. Domingo. It seemed, that, without any diplomatic address, éxerted in these parts, the citizens of the United States enjoyed, within the Mediterranean, as great privileges, and as ample protection, as the British, with all their fleets, armies, and plenipotentiaries.

"In Sicily, notwithstanding the state of relation in which we stand with that kingdom, the Americans were just as much respected as we were. In Turkey they participated in all the privileges to which we could lay any clain; and, in Malta, our own island, they shared, to the utmost, every immunity which the British possessed. It will be difficult to discover, either in the conduct of the United States towards us, or in that regard which we owe to our own interests, a satisfactory reason for permitting them to enjoy such advantages-advantages enjoyed at the expense of our West Indian planters and merchants.

a cheaper rate than other merchant. It is to the latter of these causes, that the exclusive pre-eminence, which the Americans have attained in the Mediterranean, must be ascribed. They load sugars and coffee in Cuba and St. Domingo, and come directly into this sea. The expenses of the voyage are not greater than those on a voyage from the West Indies to the united kingdom. If the invoice price of their cargoes be the same as the shipping value of our West Indian produce, they can afford to sell, in Malta, for example, at the same price, that our planters can afford to sell in England. By our colonial system, we cannot carry colonial produce direct to Malta. It must be first brought to the united kingdom, there landed, there warehoused, and, there shipped again, for Malta; and the expense of the voyage from England to that island, independent of the landing, warehousing, and. shipping charges, is as great as that of a voyage from Cuba, or St. Domingo, to Malta; namely, the ordinary voyage of the Americans with colonial produce. If this expense be twenty-five per cent. it is, therefore, clear, that our colonial system has the effect of giving twenty-five per cent. of advantage to the Americans over our merchants, on all colonial produce that is sold in Malta. For the Americans, to reach the same destination, perform only one voyage, while we are, by law, obliged to perform two.

"If it be convenient to the great political concerns of the empire, that the colonies of the enemy should be conquered; as our original plantations must suffer by the effects of this policy, it is but just that we should endeavour to lessen their sufferings. It may be expedient to

reduce

reduce the foreign possessions of the enemy, in order to procure certain equivalents when we shall come to negociate for peace; but it is not judicious that we should entail, upon those possessions, which we do not mean to surrender, hardships that will, in the end, affect our own vital interests, more than the temporary injury which we inflict on the enemy. If it be intended to retain the new acquisitions to the utmost, and to regard them as integral parts of the empire, then the obligation of considering the state of the consumption of colonial produce, within the Mediterranean, in addition to the different other plans proposed for the relief of the planters, is indispensable. The enemy, aware of our belligerent colonial system, has, by most unprecedented regula tions, which have proved lamentably successful, endeavoured to lessen the consumption of colonial produce on the continent. This has diminished the loss to him of the colonies which we have taken, and reduced the value of property to us, in those which we previously possessed. Were the actual condition of the colonies, collectively, the same as at the commencement of the war, such bas been the diminution in the consumption of colonia! produce on the continent, that the general value of plantation property is now materially impaired.

"The population of Sicily is commonly reckoned at a million and a half. The quantity of sugar used in that island is, perhaps, equal to the whole consumption of Scotland; and the quantity of coffee is, undoubtedly, much greater. Would not the exclusive privilege of supplying the Sicilians with colonial produce be regarded as boon by our planters Might not

a

this privilege be obtained, under the present circumstances of our connection with Sicily? If we garrison the fortresses, and continue the subsidy to the court, by which the people are exempted from a large portion of the expenses of the war, surely we could and ought to stipulate for some favour in return; and the privilege of selling colonial produce to the Sicilians might be a part of that favour. But, in the existing state of our colonial system, the court of Palermo might object to concede this privilege, because it would, in fact, be obliging its subjects to pay twenty-five per cent. more to the British, for the same kind of goods, which they obtain, at present, from the Americans. Were we to obtain, from the king of Sicily, the exclusive privilege of bringing colonial produce to his ports, and yet continue those existing restrict ons, which oblige the planters to send their articles first to the united kingdom, we should, in fact, levy a tax of twenty-five per cent. on the sugar and coffee consumed by the Sicilians. I do not say that we ought not to do this; but, were the point agitated in negociation, the king of Sicily has certainly a very solid ground of objection. Were we to grant our planters the freedom of direct intercourse with Malta, our own territory, and, it is to be hoped, an adopted and unalienable integral part of our empire, the objection of the Sicilian government would be obviated; because, by the vicinity of that island to Sicily, we could then afford to furuish the Sicilians with colonial produce, on terms, at least equal to those of the Americans, even if we did not take any steps to exclude the Americans from the Mediteranean,

"By extending to the colonies the right of direct intercourse with Malta, we should secure a monopoly of the supply of Turkey with coffee and sugar: of the former, the Turks, in proportion to their number, consume more than any other people, and are daily becoming greater consumers of the latter. In the course of my travels in Turkey, I found, every where, that the coffee with which I was served, had either been brought from Malta or Smyrna. The colonial produce sold at Smyrna, bad either come from Malta, to which it had been brought by Americans, or been imported by the Americans themselves. It is only in the houses of the great, that the Mocha coffee is to be met with; and, at present, not often there, owing to the Wechabi, the reformers of the Mahomedan faith, having interrupted the regular supplies.

"An important proportion of the produce of the colonies which we. have taken from the enemy, is coffee; and the cultivation of that article, in our old plantations, is yearly increasing. To aspire to the monopoly of supplying Turkey with coffee, is impressed upon us by the state both of our old and new colonies. For excluding the Americans from Malta, even entirely, there can be no political complaint; far less for denying to them, in -future, the privilege of carrying colonial produce there. They are not permitted to bring it into the ports of the United Kingdom; and, all circumstances considered, it is, certainly, very like negligence, if it be policy, to permit them to have, in a very great degree, a monopoly of the sugar and coffee trade, with the countries round the Mediterranean; particularly to allow

them to enter Malta on as free a footing as ourselves, and with those articles too, of which their sales operate to the detriment and loss of a numerous class of our own subjects. I do not know, whether our situation with the Porte is such, that we might attempt to procure a monopoly of the coffee trade to Turkey, by any public treaty. The Turks, individually, esteem us more than they do any other people; but our national influence is not, I am well convinced, by facts within my own knowledge, so great with the divan as that of the French. Were we to attempt to obtain, by treaty, any particular commercial privilege in Turkey, the French would immediately oppose us, and, I have no doubt, successfully. But, were we to relax our colonial system, and grant to our planters the right of direct intercourse with Malta, we should not require the dubious utility of diplomatic endeavours. The enterprise of our merchants would enable them to discover ways and means abundantly sufficient for securing the superiority and ad vantage which we ought to possess in the sale of colonial produce.

"We ought, also, as the masters of Malta, to consider, prospectively, the state of our relations with Turkey. It is scarcely to be doubted, that, sooner or later, France. one way or other, will contrive to expel, from the Ottoman dominions, the few inconsiderable remnants that still exist, of our Levant factories. We should, therefore, take some decisive way of fixing insular establishments in the Archipelago; establishments, which our navy enables us, effectually, to protect, and which, even in the event of another war with Turkey, might be rendered perfectly secure, if ju

dicionsly

diciously selected. It is only by extending the rainifications of our insular policy from Malta, that we shall be able to maintain our supe riority in the Mediterranean.

"In proposing to grant the free dom of direct intercourse between the colonies and our Mediterranean possessions, an objection might be made by those mercantile houses at home, who hold mortgages on West Indian property: but this objection could only be of weight, against an argument for extending the freedom of intercourse to countries independent of our own. Nor can it be urged by those merchants, that any mortgages are held by them, on property in the newly-acquired plantations; and, therefore, if for no other reason than for the interests of the planters in them, some alteration in our colonial regulations should be made. If there are objections of any validity, on the part of the mortgagees, against allowing a free intercourse between the old colonies and our Mediterranean possessions, there can be none why that intercourse should not be granted to the new. Here we have a clear view of the absurdity of adhering, under the altered circumstances of the world, to those

colonial regulations which were calculated for other times.

"Another objection, apparently of more importance, presents itself. By bringing the produce of the colonies to the mother country, and there re-shipping it for its ultimate destination, it may be said, that a greater quantity of tonnage and number of seamen are employed, than would be were the produce at once sent from the colonies to the ultimate destination; but, it must be remembered, that, at present, only a small part, or, rather, none of our colonial produce is consumed in the Mediterranean; so that the shipping and sailors that are supposed to be employed in this trade, have, in fact, no existence.

"It is chiefly with respect to the colonial interests, that the trade of Malta requires the early consideration of government. The obstruc tions, which it, at present, suffers, may be obviated, by an act of the legislature, in the course of a few days, and without any investigation of the circumstances of the island. But those things which regard the law and administration of justice, should be examined with care, andproceeded in with caution.

"Ic

CANNOT describe the modern city of Athens in fewer words, than by saying that it looks as if three or four villages had been rude ly swept together, at the foot of the north side of the Acropolis, and enclosed within a garden wall, between three or four miles in cir

cumference. The buildings occupy about four-fifths of this enclosure; the remainder consists of corn-fields and gardens.

"The common estimation of the population of Athens is ten thousand souls; and it appears not to be far from the truth: and yet the L 2

city