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identity of the two Turks who had taken the shepherd away. The case was brought to Monastir, where it underwent investigation, but for want of evidence sufficient to satisfy the Court of Criminal Inquiry (Istintak Medjlis), no one has ever been punished, either for the murder, or for the torture of the two youths. No better example of the oppression exercised on a whole district can be adduced, than one mentioned by General Garibaldi, in a letter to a friend near London, dated Dec. 18, 1866: "Have you any idea what this despotism of the Turks protected by you really is? I will give you an example:- One day, in the port of Olivieri, in the island of Mytilene, I inquired of a Greek peasant the reason why he did not gather up the olives instead of permitting them to perish on the ground. Because,' he answered, 'the Pacha buys up all the olives, and we are compelled to deliver them to him at such a low price that it would not pay the expense of gathering them in.' Behold how the interest of this poor remnant of Christians is neglected in temporal matters! And

for the rest, for all that concerns the prostitution of the body and of the soul, how am I to relate it to you who have so kind a heart, and who have a son and daughters? It is most horrible! And if I do not speak of it, oh, forgive me; it is for the sake of decency, and from the respect which I owe to you, that I cannot detail to you such brutalities."

Garibaldi's sentiments are echoed by multitudes in Italy, and inspire them; his name is, in fact, a power in itself. Italian enthusiasm in the cause of the Eastern Christians is, at this moment, as strong a passion as any of which even the Italians are capable, and must be taken into account in forming an estimate of the public opinion of Europe, and of the forces which bear on the settlement of the Eastern Question. In Paris an association has been constituted of very many individuals of the highest eminence in France, and of all political parties, in favour of the Candiotes; it is chiefly of a literary character, and, accordingly, is the more fitted for exercising an influence on the public mind. It may safely be said that the

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head of the Imperial Government, in his Eastern policy, does no more than give effect to French opinion; indeed to the opinion of Western Europe, since even our own Cabinet professes to entertain views identical with those of the Emperor, and it is quite undeniable that the public generally throughout England entertain ideas far more favourable to the Christians of the East, than those as yet expressed by our present Ministers.

The action of France, along with that of other European Powers, will probably render it impossible for the Sultan to avoid granting to Crete the right to dispose of its own destinies. Self-government has been already conceded, under extreme pressure, to Roumania and to Servia: in Crete, however, it is pretty certainly too late for this to suffice, inasmuch as the words independence of Turkey and annexation to Greece have been spoken, and spoken with authority on the part of the people, while they have received weighty countenance in Western Europe The insurrection will never be finally extinguished, except with

the extinction of the Christian population, however it may for a moment be suppressed, and degenerate into a guerilla sort of warfare: all which makes it pretty certain that some of the Great Powers of Europe will persist, whenever any fitting occasion arises, in urging the appointment of a commission of inquiry, unless the affairs of Crete should be satisfactorily disposed of in any other manner, which would, of course, render the appointment of a commission of inquiry superfluous. The appointment of a commission of inquiry would practically enforce a responsibility on the part of Turkey to European opinion, and to Christian monarchs, and might be as good a commencement of collective action as any other step. It will assuredly be unfortunate, if Britain takes no part in any plan of collective action which may be decided on by others, and isolations may perhaps bring about a loss of influence, as well as the adoption of a feeble line of conduct, but plainly cannot even retard, much less arrest, the current of events. A due sense of the way in which the Turks have acted with regard to the stipulations

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they have entered into, for giving effect to various arrangements, and in favour of civil and religious liberty, would probably secure that our co-operation with other European nations should not be wanting; but there is room for doubt, whether any impression on the subject, in the degree in which it has been brought home to the national apprehension, will do more than prevent our rushing into another war, like that waged in the Crimea, to uphold, as was asserted, the dignity and integrity of the Sublime Porte.

The Cretan insurrection may be overpowered for a moment, but even if Turkish authority is established throughout the mountainous districts, which it is said never yet to have been, outbreak after outbreak may be expected to occur, so long as there is a Christian Greek population. The Sultan will, probably, be now quite ready to establish a self-government in Crete, much after the fashion in which one has been established in Servia and Roumania; but this will totally fail to satisfy the aspirations of the inhabitants, which are for union with