or could leave Greece alone, I should not be hasty in advising us again to meddle with it. But we created it, we undertook its guardianship, and the result of our management of one of the most intelligent people on the face of the earth is, after forty years' experience, a complicated machinery of intrigue and plunder, in which the place-hunter and the bandit live alternately on the State and the traveller, and into which we are compelled to inquire by a massacre which the conscience of the Greek Ministers did not permit it to prevent, and a short-sighted view of their interests led them, I apprehend and believe, to connive at. It is under these circumstances that I say-let us not suppose it a duty as the friends of constitutional government to support a Government which is a mockery on Constitutions, but rather let us endeavour, with the sanction of European opinion, to found some system which may not destroy the germs of liberty, but leave them under the shelter of order and law, without the protection of which they can never develope themselves."

But

Mr. Gladstone, while acknowledging the gravity of the situation, and expressing his belief that there was no great likelihood of any difference of opinion in the House upon the subject, pleaded the necessity for further information before any decided steps could be taken. He defended Mr. Erskine's conduct in the matter, and trusted that redress might be obtained without charging all the mischief on the popular institutions of Greece. "This would have been," he said, "under any circumstances, an event filling us with grief and horror, and that grief and horror have been quickened in the minds of the Government and people of this country by the circumstances of deep and touching interest connected with the persons and characters of the victims of this outrage. while to us it is a grievous and shocking tragedy, it appears likely to be a great event in the history of Greece. It must tend to an opening-up of circumstances connected with the condition of that country such as probably former times have never afforded an adequate occasion for bringing up. The nature and root .of brigandage in Greece is of itself a subject of the utmost interest, because it connects itself with the political position of that country and with the unfortunate and, as it appears on occasions, the almost irresistible temptation, arising, perhaps, from the prevalence of national sympathies, to mix itself in quarrels in which it has no title to interfere that can be recognized by any principles of International Law. Then again comes the question as to what are the institutions of Greece, and I hope my right honourable friend will forgive me if I venture still to cherish a desire that we may be able to discover some other remedy for these mischiefs, and other guarantees against their recurrence in the future than that most unsatisfactory one, which I can only regard as a rough and ready proceeding to which many may be tempted who are friends of constitutional principles, and to which the enemies of constitutional principles will have the strongest predisposition—namely, that of

charging these faults upon the popular institutions of the country. I do not pretend to give any opinion as to the nature of the measures to be taken; but this I must say that, so far as I have ever been able to consider, the difficulty of Greece lies in the fact that the Turkish domination, which so long subsisted there, erased and effaced from Greek society all the natural influences of superior intelligence, education, rank, descent, and property, and left little but poverty on the face of the land. The consequence is that it is the class called upon to govern that is defective in Greece, far more than the class which is to be governed, and, consequently, the problem is a most difficult one, and will require the most grave consideration from the representatives of this country, which has peculiar obligations in respect of freedom in the face of Europe and the world, before they arrive at the conclusion that it is to popular institutions that this internal disorganization is to be ascribed." The first duty of the Government was to ascertain the facts absolutely, and then it would become their further duty carefully and comprehensively to consider what obligations arose out of a clear view of the facts. In acting on these obligations the safety, honour, and happiness of Greece must be consulted as well as the wounded feelings of England, and whatever served one end should serve both. "It is," he said in conclusion, "a consolation in these circumstances to think there are no selfish purposes to pursue, and no vengeful purposes, because the condition of Greece is such as to make it impossible that she should be, in the body of her people, a fitting object of punishment for the miscarriages or misconduct of her Government, provided we find ourselves in a condition to be able to obtain that best reparation which would consist in securities against the recurrence of similar evils."

In the House of Lords Lord Carnarvon whose cousin, Mr. Herbert, was among the victims, maintained that the Greek Government was in every way responsible for the tragedy. If they had not given the travellers assurances of safety, or if they had granted the amnesty, or if they had not moved troops, the catastrophe would not have occurred. As to Mr. Erskine he regretted that he should have ever given even a qualified consent to the movement of the troops; but he admitted that his position, "left alone and single-handed in the midst of a semi-barbarous people," was one of peculiar difficulty; and he had certainly exerted every effort to secure the release of the captives. If then the Greek Government were responsible, and took the wrong course, was there any motive for their action? "On the first blush," he said, "there is a great mystery. Here are Englishmen and an Italian taken by brigands. An enormous ransom is asked-25,000.-enough to make this small band of twenty-one, rich men for the rest of their lives. The cash is absolutely there, all told out ready for their acceptance. The conditions offered to them are most reasonable, and, on the other hand, brigand law is perfectly well understood. The result of an attack upon brigands is certain, as Colonel Theagénis himself

acknowledged-and yet two days afterwards he makes that attack. Now, I say, on the first blush there is a mystery, and we are not altogether unjustified in asking what motives can be assigned for the course pursued by the Greek Government? Can you say that it was an error of judgment on their part? I wish I could reasonably think so. My belief is that whatever other merits or defects an Eastern people may have, stupidity is not generally one of them. They generally know pretty well what they are doing and what they mean to effect. Consider what the position of the Greek Government was. At the beginning of the month they had formally announced that brigandage through their exertions had been suppressed. They had staked their credit on this fact. A fortnight afterwards their statements are falsified by the capture of these unfortunate persons. We see by the papers that they were already being attacked on all sides. The Opposition threatened a violent attack. The English and Italian Ministers told them in so many words that they would be held responsible for all the consequences; and what did they see before them? They saw as the only probable solution of their difficulties that an English ship of war would transport the brigands elsewhere, and that they would ultimately be called upon to pay the ransom. They must have felt that they would be discredited; that the moment the Legislature met they would lose their places; but, on the other hand, that they would recover their reputation if by a sudden stroke they succeeded in restoring the prisoners to liberty, while they would avoid the payment of money under any circumstances, even if they failed and even if the prisoners fell victims to the brigands. These are strong inducements to men who are actuated by no high principle." He then proceeded to show how, in his opinion, the whole character and conduct of the Government gave colour to this explanation; and, after expressing his respect and sympathy for the King, alone "amid all the wretched scene of political devilry and social corruption," he ended by demanding what he believed the English people desired and claimed-" a full, clear, perfectly just trial of every single person, no matter what his rank or class, against whom there could be any fair suspicion of complicity with these foul murders."

Lord Clarendon, who made his last public appearance in connexion with this painful question, deprecated debate at the moment on the same grounds as Mr. Gladstone. The Government had made all possible exertion, and every information had been laid upon the table at the earliest moment. That very day he announced that a telegram had been received, with the news that seven of the brigands had that morning been condemned to death-investigations of great importance were being conducted at Athens-in Mr. Erskine's opinion as speedily as possible. Therefore, while the evidence was yet incomplete and the case not made up, he was not in a position to make to the House what must be a premature communication as to the course intended to be pursued. He defended his demand for

an amnesty on the ground that the Greek constitution had been so often violated, though he confessed that he had no thought at the time of Sir Roundell Palmer's "diplomatic" distinction between the different prisoners; whatever he did, he had done to save the lives of all four. He did not believe in any special inviolability attaching to travelling diplomatists; but declared that the complete suppression of that brigandage, which was demoralizing all classes in Greece, was the sine qua non of that progress which the protecting powers had so long and so vainly looked for at the hands of her ruling men." Maintaining that Mr. Erskine had acted well and ably under circumstances of no ordinary difficulty, he declared in conclusion that no effort should be wanting on the part of Government to investigate the circumstances of the crime thoroughly, and in so doing to improve the condition of Greece.

The later debates upon the Greek murders failed to arouse the interest that had attended the earlier ones, owing to the absorbing interest of the war. And the difficulty of taking any definite course in the matter, after the first fever of grief and indignation had passed, was universally felt. The inquiry at Athens, however, was steadily continued, and Lord Granville in this, as in other matters, showed himself well qualified to replace Lord Clarendon, to whose death the mental distress and anxiety caused by the tragedy in Greece probably contributed in no small degree. But by the end of the year the country seemed content to accept the execution of several brigands-the band immediately implicated, indeed, having been nearly extirpated-as atonement sufficient for the blood for which, in April, nothing short of the extermination of the Greek nation seemed likely to be accepted in expiation. The "political devilry and social corruption" of Greece were too deep to be easily removed; and one of the last events of the year was the arrest by the Greek Government, for supposed complicity in the Marathon murders, of the Englishman Mr. Noel, who had been, to all appearances and by universal belief, so active in attempting to rescue his countrymen. The motives for this arrest baffled comprehension at the time.

Pending the discussion upon this dark chapter in the story of the year, a great and important change was effected in our system at home. By an order in Council, dated the 4th of June, it was directed that, from the 31st of August next following, all entrance appointments to all situations in all Civil Departments of the State, except the Foreign Office, and posts requiring professional knowledge, should be filled by open competition; and thus the muchcanvassed system of competitive examination, so violently abused and so warmly defended, reached its perfect development. The Order in Council contained two new provisions. It vested in the Chiefs of Departments the power of dismissal, the candidate after his appointment continuing to hold his office at their pleasure; and it provided that the successful candidate in the examination must pass through a six months' probation, during which his actual

efficiency was to be tested as his knowledge had already been. The effect of this great change was to throw open the whole Civil Service of Great Britain to competition as unlimited as that by which the Indian Services were already filled, and to deprive candidates for employment in it of every adventitious advantage. It was not to be expected that such a measure would be received with universal favour among the classes who would suffer most from its operation, but it met apparently with the full approval of the country, and depended upon a principle by this time accepted in England. Almost at the same time, little noted or commented upon at the moment by a country which was thinking of other things, another of our old exclusive traditions was silently done away. The tradition that the Army is governed by Royal prerogative was one of obstinate vitality-the General-in-Chief being the agent of the Crown; and it was very generally believed that there must be a collision between the Sovereign and the Parliament before that prerogative was surrendered. But the Queen never failed to show herself loyally in accordance with the wishes of her Parliament; and on this point, when the time came, she proved herself as ready to adopt concessions as she had been on others; and when Ministers felt themselves compelled to advise that the prerogative should be surrendered, and the General Commanding-in-Chief formally declared to be a subordinate of the Minister of War, her Majesty, with what must have been on her part a great sacrifice of feeling, signed the Order in Council which surrendered it. No doubt the time was ripe for the change, which must ultimately have come; but, while welcoming competitive examinations and rejoicing over the extinction of royal prerogatives, we may be allowed a passing word of regret for an old system which produced Civil servants not all undistinguished, and armies not altogether contemptible.