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

FENIANISM IN IRELAND.

Lord DERBY said that as some of his noble friends
were desirous of information relative to the position o f
affairs in Ireland, he would read to them the last telegram
that had been received from Ireland. It stated that there
had been
.an assemblage of insurgents at Kilkenny,
about eight miles from Limerick junction, but that
a body of troops had been sent in pursuit of them.
Farmers' houses had been visited by the rebels, but that
no other disturbance had occurred. That was all that had
at present been received.
TB E INSURRECTION IN CRETE.

The Duke of ARGYLL said that, in moving for papers
relative to the late outbreak in Crete, lie would say that in
those provinces they had a large number of Christians
ruled over by a Mahurnmedan minority, and that the for-
mer had no voice in the government of those provinces.
Whenever outbreaks arose in those provinces 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 Mtiasulinaes. It had been agreed, in 1850, that
the Christian should have the same political privileges
as the Mussulman, but on no occasion had there been
any intention 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 dominions should be thoroughly defined, but no
such state of affairs bed yet taken place. 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. Aud hi this struggle"' "riot
only native troops had been employed, but the
barbarous races of Circassia, 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::bb-
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 haye
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
then furnished the Government with the reasons
which induced him to disobey the instruc-
tions, as the circumstances were of extreme urgency.
The 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, he 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 exaggerated. The avowed cause of the insurrec-
tion was, in fact, their desire fur annexation to Greece. At
the time the Great Powers were exerting their friendly
offices, and the Porto Thad sent a most able and humane
commissioner to inquire into their grievances, the Cretans
flew to arms, and the Porte was quite justified in putting
down the rebellion when it found that the overtures of
Mustapha Paella, who had displayed the greatest modera-
tion and humanity, were rejected. The employment of
irregular troop's was to be regretted, for no doubt they had
perpetrated many atrocities : bat atrocities had also been
committed on the other side. The truth was that the re-
bellion was originated in Athens, and bad 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
British Government, it was not their duty, by interfering
in the loterunl MIMI'', of Turkey, to sat an example that
wottld be fatal to its independence as a European pawer.
Under all the cireumsl:inces, the Foreign Secretary mold
have taken no other etittfae than ho did; although most
painful it was absolutely necessary,
The Earl of KIMBERLEY approved of the policy of
hor Majenty's Government, and observed that the fewer
entanglements we bad 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 CLANUTCARDE,
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 the chair at 4 o'clock.
NEW WRITS.

New writs were ordered to issue for Droitwich, the
Northern Division of Devon, and Tyrone, for the
election of members in place of Sir John Pakingtou, Sir
Stafford Northcote, ant Mr. Corry, who had since their
election aceepted respectively the offices of Secretary of
War, Secretary for India, and First ,cord of the' Ad-
miralty,