The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-09 00:00:00

TILE INSURRECTION IN CRETE.

The Duko of ARGYLL said that, in moving for papers
relative to the late outbreak iu Crete, he would .say that in
those provinces they had a large number of Christians
ruled over by a Mahommeden minority, and that the for-
mer had no voice in the government of those provinces.
Whenever outbreaks arose in those I.r.)vinces we were told,
on the one hand, that it was the fault of the Greeks, and
on the other, that it arose through the oppressive con-
duct of the Mussulmans. It bed been agreed, in 1836, that
the Christian should have the same political privileges
as the 3lussulman, but ou no occasion had there been
any iuteutiou of carrying out this arrangement. This
had been a question which had been avoided by
every Government., but that it was necessary that the
position of Christians as to perfect equality in the
Turkish dopinions should be thoroughly defined, but no
such state of affairs had yet takenplace. In the beginning
of Sept. there was an outbreak, and the inhabitants betook
themselves to their mountain farms. He (the noble duke)
Would say that these. contentious were characterised by
the most horrible of all feelings, that of religious discord,
and that these were accompanied with the greatest bru-
tality on both sides. And in this struggle not
only native troops had been employed, but the
barbarous races of Oircassia, Albania, &c. He would now
come to the period when the Government first became
aware that a civil war had broken out in Crete, and that
then her Majesty's Government had declared
the strictest neutrality. His lordship then proceeded
to review the whole of the events that had oc-
curred from that period down to the present time.
He characterised the whole of the proceedings in that
island as sanguinary in the extreme, and, although the
inhabitants had asked that their wives and children might
be placed upon English ships, they had been refused. The
request certainly came from a particular quarter, from
the King of Greece ; but still an order might have
been granted to Lord Lyons, or Mr. Dixon, to .use their
discretion in the matter. -The atrocities, committed by
the Egyptian and other troops were described as most
horrible, and the same was attributed to the Christians,
but there was no palliation of the former. Lord Lyons
had lost no opportunity to urge the Ottoman
authorities to protect. the women and children,
and he had taken upon himself to order Consul Dixon to
take steps to protect these families, but no sooner had
Consul Dixon done so than orders came from home that
a strict neutrality was to be maintained. Consul Dixon
thee furnished the Government with the reasons
which induced him to disobey the instruc-
tions, as the circumstances were of extreme urgency.
Tho heartrending circumstances that had taken place in-
duced him to despatch the unfortunate wives and families
of the insurgents to her Majesty's ship Assurance. He
(the noble duke) could not help admiring the conduct of
Consul Dixon. He even admired it more than the con-
duct of Nelson when, in the line of battle, ho refused to
obey the admiral's signal to retire. (Hear, hear.)

The Earl of DERBY defended the Foreign Office from
the charges of the Duke of Argyll. The complaints of
the Cretans, he said, were mostly unfounded, and all were
greatly'exagerated. The avowed cause of the insurrec-
tion was, in fact, their desire for annexation to Greece. At
the time the Great Pcwers were exerting their friendly
offices, and the Porte had scut a most able and humane
commissioner to inquire into their grievances, the Cretans
flew to arms, and the Porto was quite justified in putting
down. the rebellion when it found that the overtures of
Mustapha Pacha, who had displayed the greatest modera-
tion and humanity, were rejected. The employment of
irregular troops was to be regretted, for no doubt they had
perpetrated many atrocities : but atrocities had also been
committed on the other side. The truth was that the re-
bellion was originated in Athens, and had been carried on
by volunteers and supplies from Greece, with the con-
nivance of the Greek Government, in the hope that the
flame of insurrection would spread to other parts of the
Ottoman Empire. It was this, therefore, which had pre-
vented the Porte from carrying out the policy of concilia-
tion it had assured the Great Powers it was prepared to
adopt in Crete. With regard to the course pursued by the
tc set an example that
British Government, it was not their duty, by interfering
inth
woulde
he ) internalfata ltoa affairs of
independenceo f Turk e y
as a European pnwer.,
Under all the circumstances, the Foreign Secretary could
have taken no other course than he did; although most
painful it was absolutely necessary.
The Earl of KIMBERLEY approved of the policy of
her Majesty's Government, and observed that the fewer
entanglements we had in the East the better it was for the
true interests of this country.

Earl GREY having also addressed the house, and pro-
nounced the Crimean war to have been equally impolitic
and useless, the motion was withdrawn.
In answer to the Marquis of CLANIiICAItDE,
The Earl of DERBY remarked that the state of affairs
in Spain was so uncertain that it was impossible to say
when the correspondence respecting the Tornado would
be complete for publication.
The Public Schools Bill was read a third time, and
passed ; and
Their lordships adjourned at a quarter to eight o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS-LAST EVENING.
The SPEAKER took tho chair at 4 o'clock.
NEW WRITS.

New writs were ordered to issue for Dreitwich, the
Northern Division of Devon, and Tyrone, for the
election of members in place of Sir John Pakington, Sir
Stafford Northcote, and Mr. Corry, who had since their
election accepted respectively the offices of Secretary of
War, Secretary for India, and First Lord of the Ad-.
miralty.