CHAPTER XV.

CONCLUDING JOURNAL.*

Procession of Saint Spiro-Orders to leave the Islands in June-Greek Passover-Greek Easter Sunday-Patriotic Cephalonians—A charming Visit— Ionian Contributions of a Million sterling-Departure of the English not likely to excite much good Feeling-Hopes for the Future--Conclusion.

Saturday, 23rd April.-Rode for the first time to-day to the Val di Roppa-the largest and most beautiful valley in the island of Corfu-and therefore well worthy of being visited by strangers; so that I have noted it here on that account. The richly-cultivated soil, and the verdure, especially at this season of the year, with the bold line of surrounding hills, make a charming picture, not easily forgotten even in this lovely island.

Sunday, 24th. The Greek Palm Sunday. Grand procession of Saint Spiro, about noon, and lasting till two in the afternoon; the English, after

* From want both of space and time, this concluding chapter is taken chiefly from the author's diary of events, in which there was no room for more than a few lines daily.

PROCESSION OF SAINT SPIRO.

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Church, crowding to see the sight. The huge banners of all the churches of the town were there, with gilt lamps elevated on ornamented poles, and formed the principal part of the train, except where some great portrait of a saint was held aloft for veneration. As usual, the procession was on too straggling a plan for proper effect; and the parties with their banners too far apart from each other. In fact, the procession extended nearly half a mile. The Archbishop, surrounded by his clergy, and hedged in by the candle-bearers, walked in front of the saint, who, in his glass-case, was borne aloft under a canopy. All the gentry of Corfu, and a great rabble rout, escorted Saint Spiro through the crowds of spectators. When the procession arrived at Condi-terrace (the highest part of the town), a halt was made, and prayers were offered up by the Archbishop. After this, a man with a stiff arm (or some such misfortune), threw himself on the ground, and the saint was carried over him. The man arose, and his cure has, doubtless, swelled the long list of the benevolent virtues of Saint Spiro, who appears to be never weary in well-doing. Some of the English spectators remarked that the arm of the patient appeared as stiff after he got up as it had been when he laid down-a proof that he, at all events, was no impostor.

According to custom, the saint was carried under

the palace windows, where the Lord High Commissioner, with his secretaries and aide de camps stood waiting to salute the Archbishop. The repeated bows of his Excellency, with the acknowledgments of the Archbishop, formed part of the ceremony. Finally, the mummy, or whatever it may be, was carried back to the church which bears its name. As soon as the saint returned home, a salute of nineteen guns from the sevengun saluting battery in the citadel announced the important fact. This was about two in the afternoon. Such was the first use made of the serviceable guns still left in the island after the removal of the rest of the ordnance.

Thursday, 28th April.-We heard to-day of a new change of ministers at Athens. As Bulgaris had been succeeded by the veteran Canaris, so the latter has been replaced by a gentleman of the name of Balby, who is well spoken of generally. It is reported that King George is anxious to take over the Islands at once, in order to be able to get rid of the National Convention, and to establish a regular government. The new constitution cannot be formed till the Ionian Islands have dispatched their proportion of members to the convention at Athens. Count Sponneck has become, it is said. unpopular, from an idea that he too readily consented to the neutralization of Corfu and Paxo, to

the destruction of the fortifications, and to the job of the pensions.

Friday, 29th.-The Greek Good Friday. To-day arrived the order that the British officials, civil and military, should all simultaneously leave Corfu as soon as possible after the 1st of June, in four vessels that were about to be ordered out for the occasion. So, at length, there is a prospect of the cession becoming a fact, as well as a law. The usual torch-light procession (called that of our Saviour's body) takes place at midnight. Having often seen it, I shall stay away. It is, however, a sight worth witnessing.

Saturday, 30th.-The Greek Easter Eve. Walked out, at ten in the morning, to see the follies of the Greek Passover, as they call it. At half-past ten, bang went the gun; and immediately, from the tops and windows of the houses, down came the usual crash of crockery. At the same moment, fowling-pieces, pistols, and crackers, were fired in all directions-behind doors, out of windows, and from concealed nooks and corners. All of a sudden, a number of lambs were dragged along, and had their throats cruelly hacked at the thresholds of houses in the best streets of the town. Some of these creatures were ten minutes, or more, in parting with their lives, tortured in honor of the Greek Passover. It is curious, considering the

hatred of the Greeks to the Jews, that they should thus keep their Passover. The firing continues for several days, as do the other fireworks-usually causing many accidents, and keeping nervous people in perpetual alarm. Many tradesmen shut their shops—or, at least, their shutters-for days. I am assured that at Easter, in Athens, these childish, and at the same time brutal, proceedings are no longer tolerated by the police; and it is disgraceful to the British Protectorate that they still occur in Corfu, and without any mitigation. The Jews are not visible anywhere lately out of their own quarters. In most parts of the town they would now consider themselves unsafe. What will happen when we are gone? Yet, perhaps, when the leadingstrings by which the Ionians have been guided by the English are snapped, they may become men, and put away the childish things which now delight them. The nervous fear of tampering with religious scruples has caused the Protectorate to encourage follies, which it ought to have corrected. My able Cephalonian acquaintance of the Mills hit the right nail on the head, when he said to a Resident, "You English should either govern us or go away!" We would not properly govern them, and so we go away. By-the-by, since I left Cephalonia, that astute Greek has not only become a member of the Assembly of the thirteenth Parliament, but was elected its Vice-president-an