The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-08 00:00:00

THE INSURRECTION IN CRETE,

The Duke of ARGYLL said that, in moving for papers
relative to the late outbreak in Crete, he would say that in
those provinces they had a large number of Christians
ruled over by a Mahommedan miuority, 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
that, on other, that it arose through the oppressive con-
duct of the Mussalmans. It had been agreed, in 1856, that
the Christian should have the same political privileges
as the Mussulman, but in no occasion had there been
any intention of carrying out this arrangement. This
had boon a qusstion 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 had yet takeu 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 contentions 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 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 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 im 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
but ho 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 'uduced him to disobey the instruc-
tions, the circumstances were of extreme urgency.
he heartrending circumstances that had taken place in-
duced him to dispatch the unfortunate wives and families
of the insurgents to her Majesty's ship Assurance. Ho
(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.)

(LEFT SPEAKING.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—THIS EVENING.
The SrRixER took tho 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 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.
THE MEXICAN BONDHOLDERS.
Mr. 11. LEWIS asked the Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, whether and what instructions had been given to
her Majesty's Minister in Mexico relative to the non-re-
ceipt, monthly, by the agent of the Mexican bondholders
there since the Ist of January, 186 G, of the 25 per cent. of
the Custom-house duties specially hypothecated to them
under the Dunlop and Aldham Conventions, and which
were known by official returns to have produced more
than the sum of three hundred thousand pounds yearly,
required to pay the annual interest of three per cent. on
the Ten Millions Mexican Bonds?
Lord STANLEY said the last communication he had
had was the 10th of January. Instructions had been sent
out to support the claims of the bondholders.
THE BRIBERY COMMISSION.
Mr. Sergeant GASELEE asked the Chancellor of the
Exchequer whether ho would bring in a separate bill to
disfranchise the boroughs of Lancaster, Reigate, Totnes,
and Yarmouth, and how he proposed to deal with the pre-
ent members of those boroughs who still retain their seats
in this house?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said it was
not the intention to proceed against those boroughs by
separate bills. With respect to the present members of
those boroughs who have seats in that house, all he had
to say was that he was very glad they had, as they were
very useful members of the House of Commons. (Hear,
hear, and laughter.)

Mr. W. FORSTER called the attention of the house to
the uncertainty as to the position of the Volunteers conse-
quent on their late employment as an armed force at
Chester; and asked the Government what steps they
intended to take to remove that uncertainty. ge
said the feeling that had led to the great succestt
of the Volunteer force was the understanding at the
commencement that it would never be called upon to aid.
the civil power. The circumstances that had occurred at
Chester rendered it imperative that the views of Govern-
ment should be at once clearly stated, because he was of
opinion the calling upon the volunteers ought to be the last
resource. The police, the special constables, and even the
yeomanry cavalry ought to be made available before the
volunteers were called upon to aid the civil force. He
hoped there would be no ambiguity about the explana-
tion which would be given by the Government. If the
volunteers were called upon to act in their military capa-
city except in the event of actual invasion, the result
would be, in a great measure, to destroy the popularity of
the force, if not ultimately to bring about its entire din;
solution.

Earl GROSFENOR and Colonel BARTELOT were of opinion
.hat nothing short of invasion onght to render volunteers
iable to be called upon for active service.

Sir G. GREY did not think there was any necessity for
an altercation of the law, which was quite sufficient to
protect the whole of her Majesty's well-disposed subjects.
THE FENIAN INSURRECTION;