effective is likely to be done by the Ottoman Government unless the Great Powers take the initiative. The Marquess of Salisbury. I have, &c., EDMUND MONSON. No. 29.-Sir E. Monson to the Marquess of Salisbury.—(Received March 1.) MY LORD, Athens, February 23, 1891. A SPECIAL performance at the Greek Theatre, the proceeds of which were to be employed to assist Liapis, the Cretan outlaw and cut-throat, had been for several days extensively advertised to take place last night. Yesterday, however, in consequence of the energetic protests of the Turkish Minister, and it may be hoped also in consonance with their own sense of what would have been most indecorous, and most offensive to a friendly Power, the Hellenic Government directed the police to prevent the performance from taking place. The Opposition journals attack the Government bitterly for this new proof of their subservience to Turkey. The Marquess of Salisbury. I have, &c., EDMUND MONSON. No. 31.-Consul Biliotti to the Marquess of Salisbury.-(Received MY LORD, March 5.) District of Amari, February 16, 1891. WITH reference to my immediately preceding despatch, and my telegram of last evening, I have the honour to report that, as all the Christian population of the neighbourhood had congregated at Monasteraki for the burial of the lad murdered near Platania on the 13th instant, I refused an invitation to go and see the body of the deceased in that village, and I abstained from visiting any of the neighbouring villages so as not to give occasion for any possible demonstration. Towards noon I was unexpectedly told that the whole crowd of peasants congregated at Monasteraki, about 1 miles off, were coming to Assomatos with the body of the murdered Christian, in order to inter it there, and give me at the same time an opportunity of seeing the corpse. But only the women and a few men entered the court-yard of the monastery, the great crowd, consisting perhaps of 150 to 200 men, remaining outside. As they begged with great moderation that a few of their leading men should be allowed an interview, I considered I could not refuse, and walked to the gate. They told me that I happened to arrive in their district just as a fresh murder had been committed, that they could not continue to live in perpetual anxiety, and they talked of a Christian Governor and Christian gendarmerie for their district as the only means of restoring order, as they considered that the Mussulman authorities in their district were siding with their co-religionists; but they made no remark against the Governor-General, nor suggestion of annexation to Greece. I replied that they should expect no such changes, but that a reform in the native gendarmerie appeared to be required, and that they should submit their grievances to the Vali, who was likely to come soon, and that for my part I would report to him my observations on the situation. The same leading men came later in the afternoon to see me in the convent. They said that they had no confidence in their present Kaïmakam, who ought to be changed, and that, as the native gendarmerie, which consisted mostly of Mussulmans, abetted Mussulman outlaws, they were prepared to pay themselves a body of Christian gendarmes, and would guarantee to soon purge their district of Mussulman as well as of Christian outlaws. I answered that, as this proposal showed their desire for tranquillity, they would do well to submit their scheme to the Vali, to whom I would also speak on the subject. Christians appear to be convinced that their present Kaïmakam is the head of a conspiracy of the Mussulman element in their district against the Christians, that Mussulman outlaws find food and ammunition in the military and police stations, and even sometimes wear gendarmes' uniforms. And although the only witnesses whom they presented to me was a Christian, who told me that he had once seen six Mussulmans, whom he supposed to be outlaws owing to the fact that he knew one of them to be such, enter at night stations of gendarmerie and soldiers, I readily admit that native Mussulman gendarmes will not, any more than Christian gendarmes, denounce or apprehend any of their co-religionists, but will facilitate their escape by all means in their power. Just before my departure from Canea a Christian reported to me an exceptional case which had taken place in Selinos. Information was given to the gendarmerie that among Mussulman women who were to go out on a certain day was to be an outlaw in disguise, and a native lieutenant, who had no motive of revenge against this outlaw, surrounded the party with soldiers and gendarmes, and forced the women to unveil, and in this way captured the outlaw. There is no special cause of complaint against the Albanian gendarmes in this district, and several Christians say that the main cause of their inefficiency is their being unacquainted with the outlaws. With regard to the soldiers, I was assured at Rethymo by the Bishop of Amari, that, in consequence of the measures taken by Djevad Pasha, there had not been the slightest complaint against them. One happened to occur just now, and I give it as it was related to me by the Christian Juge d'Instruction who conducted the inquiry. Some soldiers were sent to assist the tithe collector in the village of Carines, and were stationed at some distance from it, near a ruined chapel, only two walls of which were standing and on which there were remains of pictures. One of the soldiers, while sitting there, put out the eyes of a Saint with his bayonet; he has just been found out, and, as the Major in command is a very active and smart officer, it is expected that adequate punishment will soon follow. However, Christians make a great noise about this case. Now, with regard to the three incidents related to me by the Kaïmakam, and reported by me in my immediately preceding despatch: 1. Christians admit that in the early morning of last Monday an outlaw and an inhabitant of Fourfoura entered the house in that village of the tax-collector, summoned him to give up the money, and, on his declaring that he had none, tried to stab him; they then searched the house for the money, but failing to find it made off with the tithe registers. 2. The Christians of Fourfoura deny having surrounded the Captain of gendarmes on Friday last, or claimed from him the restitution of the tithes. I sent for Pandeli Diamantidi, who had been mentioned by the Kaïmakam as having taken the Captain under his protection, and his account is as follows: when on Friday the whole Christian population was on foot in consequence of the murder of the Christian near the village of Platania, the Captain was seized with panic, fearing that in the excitement of the moment an attempt at robbery similar to that of the previous Monday would be made on him, especially as a few lads had demanded from him the restitution of their tithe money, saying that the authorities could not protect them. He was, therefore, anxious to get help from the Kaïmakam. Pandeli went to him, assured him that he had nothing to fear, and said he would answer personally for his safety, and guarantee the security of the money. But the Captain being drunk continued in a state of fright, and imagined that fifty or sixty of the inhabitants, who had gathered near the station in order to protect him in case of need, had surrounded him for the purpose of robbing him of the money. The truth is, perhaps, between the two statements, exaggeration on the one side and extenuation on the other. 3. The Christians not only deny having fired a single shot at the Governor and his force, but they say that the firing which was heard by the inhabitants of the surrounding villages was a volley fired by the troops themselves by order of the Kaïmakam, for the purpose of incriminating them and furnishing a pretext for employing severe measures against them. Having witnessed the terror of the Kaimakam when he arrived at the monastery immediately after the firing, I can hardly believe that he was playing a part. I have visited the spot where the Kaïmakam's party was fired upon, and each of the two native and three Albanian gendarmes who accompanied me pointed out to me the respective spots where they erouched when the volleys were fired. I cannot suppose all this to be a preconcerted plan, but it is possible that the Christians also spoke the truth if the volleys were fired by outlaws, some of whom were said just before my departure from Canea to have disembarked at Ayos Vassilios, the neighbouring district. Be this as it may, it is evident that the situation here is such that important and immediate reforms are required in any case in the native gendarmerie. This corps consists of about twenty men, only one-fourth of whom are Christians. The Kaïmakam himself stated to me that they were not sufficient for the service, as at the present juncture he cannot employ Mussulman gendarmes, without endangering their lives, in the western part of his district, which is thickly inhabited by Christians. Among the Mussulman gendarmes there are four or five against whom there have been complaints for a year past, and who have not yet been examined or punished. Two native gendarmes, who were accused last year of having wantonly wounded a Christian, quite lately fired at and wounded in the foot an old man who was ploughing his field. The case is under investigation, but it would not have occurred if the former accusation had not been allowed to pass unnoticed. As the Albanian gendarmes are not personally acquainted with the natives, and as there are no Christian gendarmes left to assist them, they are inefficient for the apprehension of the two Mussulman outlaws, Mazloumaki and the son of Hussein Terzidohous, who are now promoting all the trouble in the district, and this leads the Christians to think that they are in league with the native gendarmes. By increasing the Christian gendarmes to two-thirds, and reducing the native Mussulmans to one-third, this corps would be placed in a position to render real services. I am convinced that this change would greatly tend to improve the situation. The excitement of the Christians of Amari is quite beyond the usual limits, and may be attributed to the following reasons: Mazloumaki was apprehended a few months back for the murder of a Christian at Platania; his treatment by the gendarmerie was in striking contrast to that received by Christian prisoners, and three days after he was taken to Rethymo he escaped from prison [1890-91. LXXXIII.] 2 Z with two other Mussulman outlaws, one of whom is still at large in Amari (the other was eventually arrested and sent to Rhodes), aud the Christians attribute their escape to connivance on the part of the authorities. The fact that the first recent murder was committed by Mussulman outlaws has confirmed Christians in the idea of a league against them of the Mussulman element, including Government officials. Finally, the revolting violation of the Christian youth at Pazzo, of which there appears to be no doubt, but which popular report has as usual garnished with exaggerated details, and the murder on the 13th instant of the Christian at Platania, have driven the Christian population to the last degree of exasperation. Any reprehensible acts which they may have committed under these circumstances should not be treated with the same severity as in other cases. The arrest of the two outlaws in Amari, and the carrying out of the changes I have mentioned in the gendarmerie, especially if carried out under a new Kaïmakam, would, I am certain, put an end to all difficulties in this district, and the capture of the two Mussulman outlaws at Selinos proves that all is possible when the authorities are really determined to do their duty. The Marquess of Salisbury. I have, &c., ALFRED BILIOTTI. No. 32.-Sir E. Monson to the Marquess of Salisbury.-(Received MY LORD, March 9.) Athens, March 2, 1891. A DISCUSSION arose in the Chamber of Deputies the day before yesterday as to the action of the police in forbidding the theatrical representation in aid of the Cretan Liapis, referred to in my despatch of the 23rd ultimo. M. Delyanni spoke at some length in justification of that action, and availed himself of the opportunity to make a statement as to his policy on the Cretan question in general. He explained that his views now that he is in office are the same as those he enter tained and professed when in opposition; that he had never attacked the Government of M. Tricoupi for not declaring war against Turkey on behalf of the suffering brethren, nor for having discouraged the insurrection in the island. His sole point had been that M. Tricoupi had neglected to obtain guarantees for the better treatment of the Cretans in return for his co-operation with the Porte for the pacification of the island. When consulted by |