FOUR YEARS IN THE IONIAN ISLANDS. THEIR POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CONDITION. WITH A HISTORY OF THE BRITISH PROTECTORATE. EDITED BY VISCOUNT KIRKWALL, LATELY ON THE STAFF OF SIR HENRY WARD, SEVENTH LORD HIGH COMMISSIONER. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. AUTHOR'S PREFACE. THE Cession of the Ionian Islands by Great Britain to Greece is assuredly one of the most extraordinary events of the day, the due appreciation of which should not be a matter of indifference to intelligent and patriotic Englishmen. A great kingdom has voluntarily retired from a most influential position in the east of Europe, and has ceded to another nation one of the strongest fortresses in the world. Moreover, the national honor is not unconcerned in the present political and social condition of the Ionian people; for these must have been greatly affected by nearly |