CANDIA, OK CRETE. 



89 



bers, of whom only.twenty-six were Christians. 

 The Christian members of the Assembly asked 

 for an exemption for several years from imposts ; 

 foundation of banks to develop agriculture, and 

 several other similar measures, all of which 

 were granted by the Turkish Government on 

 the llth of December. The Grand- Vizier was 

 recalled from Crete on the llth of February, 

 1868, and in March made a very elaborate re- 

 port to the Sultan on the insurrection. The 

 report a quarto pamphlet of fourteen pages 

 is interesting as giving the views of one of the 

 most prominent Turkish statesmen, not only 

 on the condition of Crete, but on the Eastern 

 question in general. It begins with an histori- 

 cal sketch of the revolt, and attributes the ori- 

 gin, maintenance, and still lingering vitality to 

 four causes: 



The first, strictly speaking, but the semblance of a 

 pretext, is the discontent attributed to the popula- 

 tions. The second is the Panhellenic grande idee, 

 that unrealizable utopia which is traded upon for the 

 exclusive advantage of other ambitions. It is a rami- 

 fication of the subterranean work which is undermin- 

 ing the majority of European states, by the aid of a 

 new instrument, known as the principle of " national- 

 ities " a dangerous principle, which Turkey will 

 never admit, and which in Crete serves as a mask for 

 a war of religion. In point of fact, the Cretan popu- 

 lations all speak the same language ; religion alone 

 separates them, the Mussulmans being as indigenous 

 as the Christians. The third exists m the pressure 

 put upon the cabinets friendly to Turkey by public 

 opinion, misled by an unheard-of system of false- 

 hoods and calumnies propagated through the press. 

 This ha,s given rise to a novel mode of intervention, 

 known henceforward by the designation of the rescue 

 (sauyetage) of families, the evident result of which is 

 to give the insurgents freedom in their movements 

 by withdrawing from them all family cares as also 

 the motives to submission which the sufferings of 

 beseeching women, children, and old men would af- 

 ford. There is a fourth cause, which existed before 

 all the others, which dominates every thing in the 

 East, and which your Majesty will recognize by this 

 simple mention of it. It is sufficient to see each of 

 these causes in operation to determine what amount 

 of influence each exercises upon the actual state of 

 things in Crete, and to discern the obstacles which 

 were calculated, in their artificially combined aggre- 

 gate, to complicate my task before my arrival. 



The moral cause is the "Hellenistic malady," 

 which, through the liberty enjoyed by the Sul- 

 tan's subjects, has been infiltrated into the 

 minds of an ignorant and credulous population. 

 There > were also material causes : 



Before the insurrection, the debts due between pri- 

 vate persons amounted to about 150,000,000 piastres, 

 of which the Mussulman population were creditors 

 for more than two-thirds. There were, moreover, a 

 certain number of individuals having a personal in- 

 terest in shaking off " the yoke " of the Government 

 to get rid of obligations they had contracted toward 

 the Treasury in their character of tithe-farmers. Many 

 of the principal leaders of bands are in this condition. 

 Such a state of things gave rise in the minds of some 

 to the thought of ridding themselves of their debt, 

 and inspired the mass of the Christians with the hope 

 of enriching themselves at the expense of the Mus- 

 sulman population, who would, it was expected, be 

 expelled from the island, at the same time that an- 

 nexation would take place to Greece If Europe 



had been aware of these odious acts, it would have 

 been indignant at them ; it was, therefore, necessary 



to deceive it ; and the revolt, which had one hundred 

 and seventeen newspapers at its service in Greece 

 alone, used them very skilfully in order to impute the 

 destruction of property to Mussulman barbarism. 

 Moreover, individuals killed in the combats fought 

 against the imperial troops were represented as inof- 

 fensive victims. Europe believed these falsehoods, 

 systematically retailed by the Hellenic press with pro- 

 digious audacity, not suspecting that it was being made 

 the victim of a studied fraud on its good faith. It might 

 very easily, however, have satisfied itself as to the 

 value of these calumnies, by calling to mind the old 

 Roman adage, " The guilty is he who benefits by the 

 crime." Is it credible that the Mussulman popula- 

 tions, whose fortunes depended upon the olive planta- 

 tions, either directly as owners or indirectly by trade 

 debts or mortgages, should have eagerly given them- 

 selves up to the destruction of the security of their 

 property ? Is it not more probable that those are the 

 authors of the devastations who, desiring to get rid 

 of the payment of their debts and to expel the Mus- 

 sulman population, were alone interested in commit- 

 ting the crime ? 



After reviewing the history of the insurrec- 

 tion, the Grand- Vizier narrates the measures 

 which he adopted on arriving in Crete. The 

 first were to confirm and execute the amnesty, 

 and to relieve the distressed Mussulmans and 

 Christians who had been obliged to take ref- 

 uge in the fortresses. The Grand- Vizier next 

 considered the means of protecting the peace- 

 ful inhabitants against the " cruel and pitiless 

 molestations " of the insurgent bands. Two 

 plans of pacification presented themselves 

 one, general repression, the other, measures of 

 prevention. The latter appeared to Ali Pacha 

 as the only one adapted to the exigencies of the 

 situation : 



I found that the Cretan population could be classed 

 in three categories : the first, and most numerous, 

 wearied by disorders in which, they had taken no 

 part, and sincerely desiring a ^establishment of order ; 

 the second, hesitating and timid, fearing, above every 

 thing, the vengeance and reprisals threatened by 

 the rebels against those who submitted ; and a third, 

 which included all who had an interest in disorder. 

 In such a state of things, armed repression was im- 

 possible, the formal order of your ^lajesty being to 

 avoid the shedding of blood except in case of neces- 

 sity, so as not to expose the innocent to suffering for 

 the guilty. 



The convening of a General Assembly on No- 

 vember 23d is next referred to, and the submis- 

 sion of the Lakiotes as " an important incident, 

 the Lakiotes having always been at the head 

 of the rebels, and it being their village which 

 gave the signal of the last rising." The new 

 administration was inaugurated on December 

 3d. On the 8th of December, the Grand-Vizier 

 visited Candia, where he received a requisition 

 from the inhabitants of Zourva, a village near 

 Lacos, " soliciting the destruction of their own 

 dwellings in order that they should no longer 

 be tyrannized over by the bands who had 

 taken refuge there." This request was ex- 

 ecuted by the imperial troops, being the only 

 instance, his highness remarks, during his stay 

 in the island, that any measures were adopted 

 except such as were purely defensive and for 

 the protection of the inhabitants themselves. 

 "With the prorogation of the assembly on Feb- 



