The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-21 00:00:00

THE MURDERS IN GREECE.

Sir ROUNDELL PALMER called the attention of the House
to the circumstances under which one of the Secretaries
of her Majesty's Legation at Athens, and two English
gentlemen in his company (together with the Secretary
to the Italian Legation at the same Court), have recently
been seized and barbarously murdered by armed banditti,
suffered to be at large in the neighbourhood of Athens,
and asked whether her Majesty's Government were able
to state to the House what measures had been or would
be taken to obtain from the Greek Government such
satisfaction for this unprecedented outrage as her Majesty
was entitled to claim according to the law of nations, and
to ensure the due protection, for the future, of the lives
of the diplomatic servants, and other subjects of the
British Crown, within the Kingdom of Greece.
The:hon. baronet spoke of the inviolability of the ambassa-
dorial character, and remarked that the two secretaries in
question were entitled to the fullest protection in that
sense. If an ambassador became subject to outrage or
wrong it became the imperative duty of a State to use all
its resources, to abstain from no moans whatever it
could possibly use to deliver the person to whom the
public faith was pledged from such a position of jeopardy.
Under the circumstances of this case the House had to
deal with an outrage of a most extraordinary and shock-
ing kind upon British subjects entitled to the protectio n
of a friendly state, and also an outrage which had been
perpetrated under circumstances much more upon those
to whom the public faith of the Greek nation and govern-
ment were absolutely pledged, and to save whom nothing
should have been left undone, which by every human possi-
bility could have been done on the part ofthe nation and the.
people. The system of brigandage in Greece
was of no ordinary kind. It had, he feared, if
not a political origin, a great deal too much of a.
political connection. The hon. baronet then pro-
ceeded to state the facts of the case, commenting on the
circumstances according as they had been made known.
Putting aside the diplomaticaSpeot of the case, there had
been a failure in the performance of those duties which a
country like Greece owed to the subjects of all nations.
He argued that no technical objections on the part of the
Greek Government should have stood in the way of the
deliverance of captives to whom the faith of the country
was pledged for their safety. One thing was perfectly
plain—that by the exeroise of a little sound judgment, dis-
cretion, and common sense the lives of these gen-
tlemen would have been saved. All that was
required was a little more time for parleying,
and the abstaining on the part of the Greek
Government from hostile action. It was not clear which
party fired first • but it was evident that the cause of the
massacre was the fact of the troops being put in motion.
In conclusion, he said he had had bright hopes of
a new Greece emulating the virtues and the free-
dom of those Greeks to whom we were all so much
indebted for a literature which had been the
ornament and the instruction of mankind for ages.
And even now he did not despair, and believed the lament-
able event would have the effect of producing a better
state of things in Greece, and he could not help expressing
his opinion that the occurrence afforded a most legiti-
mate opportunity of interposing, to urge upon Greece the
necessity of putting an end to such anarchy, misery, and
lawlessness. The rights which it gave to England to
remonstrate, and more than remonstrate, were such
that he owned it would be to him a disappoint-
ment if in the result it should not happen that
in addition to the punishment of the guilty, which had
already been demanded, in addition to that reparation
which the Greek Government owed to the persons con-
nected with the misfortune to whom probably pecuniary
reparation would be useful or acceptable, if the Govern-
ment did not avail themselves of the opportunity now
offered to press upon the Greek Government in
such a manner as should be effectual the ne-
cessity and the duty of making the lives of
British subjects and those employed by the British
Crown safe in the country. Sure he was that every
Government in Europe would concur in any measure
which might be necessary to enforce that duty upon the
Greek Government, but surer still he was that if the course
were taken it would redound more to the credit of Greece,
and make the day when the calamity occurred, and the
day when the British Government required due repara-
tion, a day to be remembered amongst the brightest annals
of Greece, not for the crime and shame which accompa-
nied it but for the brighter future it would produce.
Sir HENRY LYTTON BULWER moved—" That this House,
upon an examination of the papers that have been laid
before it concerning the recent massacres in Greece, feels
itself called upon to express an opinion that the conduct
of the Greek Ministers has been highly unsatisfactory,
and that this House invites her Majesty's Government to
act as it thinks best on this opinion, and also to concert
with its allies as to the best means of establishing in
Greece a Government capable of satisfying the ordinary
requirements of a civilised State."
This motion was withdrawn.

Mr. GLADSTONE, who rose to address the House about
23 minutes to two o'clock, said it was evident from the
speeches of the hon. gentlemen who had spoken that the
Government had not 'neglected to take steps. The Go-
vernment had demanded the fullest examination of the
facts, requiring the means of full participation, or, at
least, full cognisance of every step connected with the
enquiry, and as they likewise would make the reason-
able claim that at the proper time, and yet not
before the proper time, which was a point of no small
importance, that condign punishment should be inflicted
upon the guilty. He was sure the House would appre-
ciate what he had said about the punishment of the
guilty not coming too soon, because there were many pas-
sages in the history of many countries in which it was
found that the immediately guilty agents were but the
tools and instruments of others, and their too rapid removal
was one of the best and most effectual means of sup-
pressing the essential portions of the truth. Some weeks
would probably elapse before they were in full possession
of the facts of the case.

Several orders and other business of an unimportant
character were disposed of, and the House adjourned at
three o'clock.