The Sun.
London, England, 1870-04-26 00:00:00

' TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 26, 1870.

reauction in the sum ctemanciect tor ransom, so as ii pos
sible to bring it within £5,000 ; but that if you found the
lives of the captives would be endangered by delay in
referring home for authority to pay a larger sum, you
were authorised to pay whatever might be necessary for
their release, and to draw on Messrs. Drummond for the
amount.
"On the following day, the 15th, I further instructed
you to urge the Greek dovernment, by the special order
of her Majesty's Government, to take every practicable
means for the release of the captives ; and I informed you
that a ship of war would be placed at your disposal, which
youianight send to bring them off from any part of the
coast-they might reach.
" Your second telegram of the 13th, announcing that
Lord Muncaster had been released, and had arrived at
Athens, and that the brigands demanded £25,000 and a
free pardon for the release of the whole party, and that
you were treating on the subject with the Greek Govern-
ment, only reached me on the 16th ; and in reply, I
expressed the hope that, with the assistance of the
Government, you might be able to induce the
brigands to release their prisoners, and I desired you at
the same time to intimate to the Government that the
better the terms on which this could be effected, the more
readily could -the Government meet any representation
which you might thereafter be- instructed to make to them
on the subject of so scandalous an outrage. I added,
however, that I was unwilling to embarrass your
free action by any specific instructions, and
must rely on you for using your best endea-
vours to set the captives free ; and on the following
day, the 18th, I further instructed you to prepare the
Greek Government for the exhibition of very angry feel-
ings in this country with reference to the outs age, and
empowered you to say that her Majesty's Government
hoped that there would be no hesitation in granting a
pardon to the brigands rather than allow the lives of the
captives, by demurring to do so, to be exposed to addi-
tional risk. Late in the afternoon of the 18th your tele-
gram of the 16th, reporting that the brigands had carried
off their prisoners to Oropo, that the prisoners were well on
the previous day andwere kindly treated, and that negotia-
tions were in progress, was received. The date of your two
following telegrams was uncertain; in words they pur-
ported to be dated on Sunday and Monday night, but in
figures they bore date respectively April 18, 8 p.m., and
April 19, 4.40 p.m. Both, however, were received in the
morning of the. 20th. In the first you acknowledge the
receipt of my telegrams of the 14th and 15th, and stated
that as the Captives were pledged for a ransom of
£25,000, it would be dangerous to offer less,
and that the amnesty required by the .bri-
gands was the real difficulty. With reference to this
point you inquire whether her Majesty's Government, if
the consent of the Greek Government could be obtained
to such a course, would consent to allow the brigands, or
at all events some of them, to be conveyed to Malta or
some other place of safety in a British ship of war ' • but
you added that you had heard from one of the captives
that though otherwise well and comfortable, they were
threatened by the chief of the brigands with death if the
terms of their ransom were not settled within two or
three days. In your telegram of the 19th (or Monday
night), you added that an Aide-de-camp of General
Church was starting to renew negotiations with the
brigands, but that they still insisted on an amnesty, which
it was impossible to obtain for them. Within a few hours,
indeed as soon as it was possible to prepare a telegram,
after the receipt of your last named telegrams, I instructed
you to point out in the clearest terms to the Greek
Government the indignation that would be felt
in this country if the lives of the prisoners were
endangered by a refusal to grant the required
amnesty. I authorised you to insist on the discredit
that attaches to Greece from the prevalence of brigan-
dage, which no effectual measures are taken to suppress,
and to declare that the British Government would not
accept as an excuse for the sacrifice of life the plea that
even for its preservation pardon could not be extended to
the brigands. And although her Majesty's Government
could not conceal from themselves the extreme
and unusual character of the step they were
taking, I went so far as to authorise you
to say that if the Greek Government would
consent to it, you might make known to the brigands that
a safe conveyance would be afforded to them to Malta
should they desire to avail themselves of it, on board a
British ship of war, if the prisoners were immediately re-
leased and arrived in safety at Athens.
" I have further telegraphed to you to-day that, not-
withstanding what I have just stated as to the convey-
ance of the brigands, in case of need, to Malta, you
would not relax your endeavours to induce the Greek
Government to grant them an amnesty, if that course
was more likely to influence the brigands to release the
prisoners ; and I instructed you to say that her Majesty's
Government considered that they were justified in calling
on the Greek Government to consent to any measures for
the release of the prisoners.
" I have further desired you to inform me fully of the
amount of protection given by the Greek Government to
the party, and how far the party were travelling on their
own responsibility.—l am Sze.
" (Signed), " CLARENDON."
The second letter is also from Lord Clarendon to Mr.
Erskine, and was written on the same day as the preced-
ing, Thursday April 21st. It is very important :
" Sir,—Since my other despatch of this day was
written, I have seen the Greek Minister, who called upon
me in pursuance of instructions from his Government to
exyress their great concern at the capture of the English
party by the briaands, and to explain to me the difficulty
under which the Greer Government laboured in regard
to the grant of an amnesty, for which the brigands were
appearing to hold out.-
"M. Brailas-Armeni said that the power of pardon
vested by the Constitution in the King of Greece extended
only to political offences, and that the King could not in-
terpose his authority to relieve persons from the penalty
attaching to ordinary crimes. But, he went on to say,
the Greek Government were perfectly willing to close their
eyes as regards any measures which the British Legation
might take for inducing the brigands to give up their
prisoners, by engaging, if they did so, to afford any of
them who might wish to seek their safety in leaving
Greece the means of doing so in a British ship.
" I told M. Brailas Armeni that such a contingency
had already been provided for, and that Mr. Erskine had
applied for and obtained authority to give, with the con-
sent of the Greek Government, a passage to Malta to all
or any of the brigands who might desire to
leave Greece. But I went on to say that
I could not admit the validity of the constitutional
objection stated by the Greek Government to preclude
them from granting a pardon to the brigands. The Greek
Constitution had so frequently been violated by the
Government in regard to matters of internal administra-
tion that I could not listen to a plea founded on it as an
excuse for not relieving the British subjects whose lives
were in imminent danger, by complying with the demands
of the brigands for an amnesty as a part of the price of
their surrender.—I am, &a-
-" (Signed) " CLARENDON."
The third letter is from Mr. Erskine to the Earl of Cla-
rendon. It is dated Athens, April 12th, but it was not
received until April 22nd, so that it may properly be
placed after the two letters of Lord Clarendon. Mr.
Erskine describes the seizure, his account differing in no
material particular from those already published. It
appears that when the ladies were set at liberty writing
materials were supplied to Mr. Herbert, who wrote to
Mr. Erskine in the following terms :—" Do what you can
to stop the troops from pursuing us. The captain says
he requires £32,000. Our ' friends' say they can be heard
of in town, and request that a proper person may be sent
to treat with them. Please telegraph to Carnarvon."
Notes of a somewhat similar tenor were written by the
Count de Boyl to the Italian Minister and
by the other gentlemen to their friends in England.
Mr. Erskine adds that the ransom was fixed at £32,000.
However, the same morning (April 12th) he ws informed
by General Soutzo, the Greek Minister of Wara, that one
of the mounted gandarmes who was liberated at the same
time as the ladies had brought him a note from the chief
of the brigands, saying that if in three days a sum of
£50,000 was not forthcoming for the ransom of the
Lordi,' and if all pursuit throughout the kingdom
was not susnended, their prisoners would be put to death ;
but General Soutze seemed to think that this was a mere
threat, and that even the amount of the ransom might be
greatly reduced. " I told him that I should be quite pre-
pared to pay at once any reasonable sum without discus-
sion ; and he assures me that men have been sent in all
directions to discover the traces of the band, and to treat
with them if possible." Mi. Erskine adds : " I have also
reserved to your lordship the right of calling upon
the Hellenic Government to pay the ransom which may
ultimately be accepted by the brigands should her
Majesty's Government think fit to do so ; and I do trust
that as this is a case of two persons belonging to the
Diplomatic Body who had apprised the authorities of their
intention to visit Marathon, who had obtained an escort
which they were entitled to consider sufficient, and who
received no intimation whatever of danger, your
lordship may see fit to hold the Greek Govern-
ment answerable for what has occurred. The
Italian Minister has addressed a similar representation to
M. Valaority, and I feel persuaded that were it to be
well understood that the nation would have to make good
any loss inflicted upon foreigners owing to the neglect or
ends of Government, the latter wrfald soon
discover the means of putting a stop to a state of things
which is mainly due to the supposed exigencies of party
warfare, and which is a disgrace to any community calling
itself civilized."
The fourth letter is from Mr. Erskine to M. Valaority,
who is the Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs. He de•
scribes the capture, adding the comment that "the facts
of the case imply a want of vigilance on the part of the
authorities which is altogether inexcusable." Mr.
Erskine makes in this letter a very vitalstatement `• The
Minister for War has already given me a solemn promise
that no attempt shall be made to pursue the brigands
until the captives are released; a threat having been made
by the brigands that the least attempt to molest them
would be instantly followed by the massacre of the whole
party, and I trust that you, sir, will take care that this
engagement is religiously kept."
The fifth letter is from Mr. Erskine to the Earl
of Clarendon. It is dated April 14th, and was
received in London on the 22nd. It notes the
arrival of Lord Muncaster to treat for the ran-
scm, and also that the sum was P,50,000, not £32,000,
After much negotiation, however, the brigands consented
to reduce theirdemand to £25,000. Mr. Erskine con-
tinues : " His Majesty and the Prime Minister having
returned to Athens this morning from an excursion they
have been making in the Archipelago, M, Zaimis called
upon ins in the course of the • day, with the Minister
for Voroign Affairs, and expressed to me the
profound grief and humiliation with which his
Majesty had learnt the misfortune which had
befallen my countrymen • and he assured me that the
Government were prepared to make any sacrifice in their
power to effect the releasa of the captives. A person tala
been sent off on behalf of the Government te treat with
the brigands, and to promise them kiit'hing short of an
amnesty ; and I trust that ere long the whole party may
be restored to liberty. I have addressed a letter in Greek
to the brigands, of which I enclose a translation, assuring
them that the money will be raid, and that they need not

fear any attempt to molest them on the part
of the authorities. I cannot yet say, very posi-
tively, by whom the ransom will eventually have to be
)aid ; but I have had the honour of an interview with his
Hellenic Majesty, at which he said that he had desired
M. Zaimis to take any sum that might be necessary from
the Bank or elsewhere to pay for the ransom. His
Majesty even shewed the most eager wish to go and place
himself in the hands of the brigands rather than that any
of their prisoners should suffer harm." A letter from the
brigands, and another to the brigands from Mr. Erskine,
are enclosed in this communication.

The last of the correspondence is from the Earl of
Clarendon to Mr. Erskine, and is dated April 23. It is
as follows :

" Sir,—Your telegram of the 20th of April, in the even-
ing, announcing that the health of the captives was satis-
factory, but that the brigands still held out for terms
which the Greek Government could not admit, and further
expressing the hope that the mission of General Church's
aide-de-camp and the military measures taken to prevent
the escape of the brigands would prove satisfactory, was
received in the night of the 21st ; and on the following
morning your despatches of the 12th and 14th of April,
containing the particulars of the capture, and the steps
taken up to the last.named date, reached my hands.
'"Late in the evening of the 22nd, your further tele-
gram of the afternoon of the 20th was received, and
caused me no small anxiety ; for I gathered from it that
an attack on the brigands by the troops was likely to be
made, or, at all events, that some plan was in agitation
for facilitating the escape of the prisoners by other means
than those which had hitherto been contemplated.
" My worst fears were realised on the receipt of your
telegrams of the 22nd, sent off respectively at 2 a.m. and
7'30 a.m., which reached the Foreign Oflice this afternoon,
and brought the distressing intelligence that Mr. Iter-
bert and the Secretary of the Italian Legation had been
put to death by the brigands, apparently under the pres-
sure of an attack made by the troops upon them ; that
Mr. Vyner had been carried off by them ; and that nothing
was known of Mr. Lloyd.
" I telegraphed to you at once that if you should have
reason to suppose that the safety of the surviving prisoners
might be secured by the grant of an amnesty you should
apply to the Greek Government, and in the name of her
Majesty's Government, and in the strongest terms, require
that such amnesty should be granted.
" Three hours after this was done, your final telegram
of this afternoon was received, conveying the sad intelli-
gence that Mr. Vyner and Mr. Lloyd had shared the fate
of their companions, and mentioning that the former of
them had been killed near Thebes.

" I need not dwell on the anxiety with which her
Majesty's Government await your detailed reports of this
melancholy tragedy.. I fear that many days must elapse
before they are received, and until then I am scarcely in
a position to give you any further instructions. I can only
hope, and indeed I do not doubt, after having read your
despatches already zeceived, that you will have left no
measure untried which held out a prospect of effecting
the release of the prisoners, and that you failed not to
use every argument which might prevail with the Greek
Government to waive the futile, and under the circum.
stances untenable objection which they made to granting
the amnesty which seems to have been insisted on by the
brigands as an indispensable condition to the surrender of
the captives.
" I will inform you of the wishes of the relatives of the
deceased as to the disposal of their remains as soon as I
can ascertain them.—l am, &c.
"(Signed),

" CLARENDO:f.

"P. S.—April 24, at Night.—Since the foregoing
despatch was written I have received your further tele-
gram, dated noon to-clay, announcing that the remains of
Mr. Herbert and of Mr. Lloyd had been landed at
Athens on the previous day, and in the afternoon interred
in the presence of the King, Queen, Archbishop, Ministers,
and Diplomatic Body in uniform ; and that the steamer
had returned for the remains of Mr. Vyner and M. Boyl,
the Italian Secretary, and was expected back in thenight.
Your telegram further informed me that thirteen of the
brigands had been killed or taken, but that eight,
including the Chief, were still at large, although it wa4
hoped that they would also be captured."

MPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE 01? COMMONS—Tins DAY .

The Speaker took the chair at five minutes to four.
THIRD READINGS.

The following bills were read a third time and passed:
—Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal Navigation
Reading Gas, and Worcester Railway.