Execution of the sentence of banishment was delayed by a protest from Dr. King, in the name of the United States Government, indicating his intention to appeal to that government. The time had now fully come for extending to him the protection due to missionaries in their just rights and privileges. There can be no doubt, that missionaries have equal claims to protection with their fellow-citizens, in the lawful pursuit of their profession as preachers of the Gospel.1 In 1842, Daniel Webster, being then Secretary of State, instructed Commodore Porter, Minister Resident at Constantinople, "to omit no occasion, where his interference in behalf of American missionaries might become necessary or useful, and to extend to them the proper succor and attentions of which they might stand in need, in the same manner that he would to other citizens of the United States, who as merchants should visit or reside in Turkey."2 Happily Mr. Webster was again in the same high office. Twenty-nine years before, while the Greeks were fighting for their independence, he had eloquently pleaded their cause in the House of Representatives of the United States, and procured their recognition as a nation by our government. An appeal now came to him from an American citizen of the highest respectability, suffering oppression by that very nation which he had so befriended. There being no diplomatic agent of the United States in Greece, the Hon. George P. Marsh, the learned and able Minister Resident at Constantinople, was instructed to proceed to Athens in one of the ships of war, and inquire into the case, with one or more of the national vessels in that neighborhood subject to his order. Having a competent knowledge of the Greek language, Mr. Marsh entered upon his delicate mission in August, 1852, and prosecuted it till the arrival of his successor in the Constantinople embassy, late in 1853. During this time, Mr. Webster died, and was succeeded by Edward Everett; and he again by Mr. Marcy, on the accession of President Pierce. Mr. Webster's letter of instruction, dated April 29, 1852, states the case clearly, as it does also the rights of missionaries. Mr. Everett's letter, dated February 5, 1853, gives the opinion of President Fillmore, based on Mr. Marsh's report of the case. "Although the forms of the law may in general have been observed," Mr. Everett writes, "it is quite plain, that Dr. King was not tried for any offense clearly defined by the law of Greece; that his trial was in many respects unfairly and illegally conducted; that the constitution and laws of Greece guarantee a full toleration of all religious opinions; and that there is no proof that Dr. King has exceeded the just limits of the liberty of speech implied in such toleration." "Either the sound and safe maxims of criminal jurisprudence," he adds, "which prevail in this country, are unknown to the jurisprudence of Greece, or her tribunals were presided over