ct is only to secure impunity to
crime, by impeding the course of justice. The system in all the
legations is extremely defective; "but in none is it more flagrantly
vicious and ineffective than in that of Great Britain." This is a
grave charge; but only too fully borne out by the facts adduced. Not
fewer than three thousand British subjects are now domiciled in and
about the Turkish capital, chiefly vagabonds and desperadoes, driven
by the rigour of English law from Malta and the Ionian Isles:--and
half the outrages in Stamboul "are committed by or charged to the
Queen's adopted subjects, who, well knowing that eventual impunity is
their privilege, are not restrained by fear of retribution." All the
zeal and energy of our consul-general, Mr Cartwright, (in whom are
vested the judicial functions exercised by chancellors of other
legations,) are paralysed by the necessity of adhering to the forms of
British law, the execution of which is practically impossible. "In a
case of murder or felony, for instance,--a case which often occurs--a
_pro forma_ verdict of guilty is returned; but what follows? The
ambassador has no power to order the law to be carried into effect:
nothing remains, therefore, but to send the accused, with the
depositions, to Malta or England. But the Maltese courts declare
themselves incompetent, and either liberate or send back the prisoner;
and English tribunals do not adjudicate on documentary evidence. The
consequence is, that unless witnesses proceed to England, criminals
must be liberated at Pera, or sent to be liberated at home, for want
of legal testimony. They have then their action at law against the
consul-general for illegal arrest." It appears scarcely credible that
a state of things, so calculated to degrade the British national
character in the eyes of the representatives of the other European
powers, should ever have been suffered to exist, and still more that
it should have remained so long unheeded. A bill was indeed carried
through Parliament in 1835, in consequence of the urgent reclamations
of Lord Ponsonby and Mr Cartwright, for empowering the Crown to remedy
the evil; but though the subject was again pressed by Sir Stratford
Canning in 1842, it still remains a dead letter. Mr White has done
good service in placing this plain and undeniable statement of facts
before the public eye; and we trust that the next session of
Parliament will not pass over without our seeing the point broug