15 SEPTEMBER 1849, Page 2

The Colonial Office is our true War department. The Cape

of Good Hope grows angry enough to justify the Downing Street hopes of separation ; and the so-called dependency of Ionia is the scene of disturbances.

The riot in Cephalonia is 'variously and perhaps not incom- patibly ascribed to brigandage, feudalism, alienation from the precise style of English rule and the wish for annexation with Greece. It will easily be pit down, if the English authorities employ force enough ; but the spirit which produced it will not be so readily quelled. We do not share the official predilection for the separation of our true colonies ; but we do not deny that the Ionian Islands are an incumbrance without corre- sponding profit. They subject us to the reproach of not carry- ing out the treaty obligations of 1815; though, if we were to do so, by giving the islanders effective free institutions, other parties to the settlement of 1815 would probably be very much angered. The " protection " costs us large sums annually, without hope of return. If the islands do afford a convenient mili- tary and naval station, we might equally secure that in the same region without undertaking the whole political conduct of the na- tion ; just as we have Gibraltar without Spain, Heligoland without Holland. Not really belonging to the empire, peevish and im- practicable dependants wishing to transfer their alle,siance to Greece, the Ionian States might well be indulged in that sort of "annexation," without any damage to the dignity or power of this country. The real difficulty in so cutting the gordian knot is, that the same blade would cut off some official patronage. We can retain our naval ascendancy without the paltry surplusage of an ascendancy in the Ionian Islands ; we can find a site for bar- racks if we need it ; but what could the Whig Cabinet have done with Mr. Ward ?