that at the end of that time any arms found in their possession would be confiscated; but there was nothing in the Circular about a general disarmament. Djevad Pasha explained the facts, and very wisely said that this order did not apply to Crete. Its execution here would have given rise to endless complaints, and would have resulted in pecuniary loss to the Government, as no good rifles would have been given up, and the useless ones, which can be bought in the market for from 1 to 3 dollars, would have cost the Government £ T. 1. The Marquess of Salisbury. ALFRED BILIOTTI. No. 38.- Consul Biliotti to the Marquess of Salisbury.—(Received March 17.) MY LORD, Canea, Crete, March 9, 1891. THE following incidents have taken place in the western districts since my departure on the 12th ultimo: Three weeks ago one of the Turkish gun-boats stationed here (the inefficiency of which I pointed out as far back as last year), named the Rodos, which had been sent to cruise about to prevent the disembarkation of outlaws from Greece, became a total wreck on the coast of this district, four of her crew being drowned. About the same time a band of nine outlaws from Greece landed at Petre, in the district of Rethymo proper. Another band of twelve outlaws who were reported to have sailed from Greece for Gouia, in the district of Kissamos, having never reached their destination, fears are entertained by their relatives that they may have perished during the last storms. Other bands were said to be preparing to start, and all these circumstances made Christians think that these expeditions were known to the Greek Government, which is supposed to have in view the re-establishment of the Halepa Pact system. I heard, however, from the captain and passengers on board the Greek steamer in which I embarked at Candia, that they had seen a boat with Cretan outlaws which had been captured and brought into the Piræus by an Hellenic ship of war, and that another band of Cretans which had put in at Sautorin under stress of weather had been left on shore, their boat sailing away without them, it was believed by order of the Government. They think here that next month many outlaws will return from Greece, and be formed into small bands by the inhabitants of the island who have nothing to lose, for the purpose of scouring the country, in order to murder Mussulmans, carry off cattle of Mussulmans and Christians, and commit any other acts which may compel the Government to repeal the last Firman, with the tacit consent, if not with the open assistance, of Greece, for they do not believe in the sincerity of M. Delyanni's peaceful declarations. At the same time I learn that Hadji Mihali having written here to ascertain the fate of the band of twelve men to whom I have alluded above, the Cretans, in reply, entreated him, in the name of God, to prevent the departure of the band and that of other outlaws. The killing of a Christian by a gendarme in the village of Fre, district of Apokorona, on the 23rd ultimo, caused much excitement there and in Canea. A native Mussulman, Captain of gendarmerie, having been sent with eight gendarmes to Fre for the purpose of collecting the tithe-money, hearing just as he arrived the report of a gun, ordered that the man, who he was told was out shooting, should be captured, dead or alive. The Christians stated that the gendarmes, amongst whom was also a Christian sergeant, were drunk, and that without any provocation they fired on two Christians who were cutting sticks; one of them, a certain Papadaki, was killed on the spot, the other escaped unhurt, although the bullet perforated his trousers. The gendarmes, on the contrary, maintain that, near the spot where Papadaki and his companion stood, they met a band of seven armed Christians, with whom was a certain Vayouaki, an outlaw; that having been fired upon by the Christians, they returned the fire, and that Papadaki was killed in the fight. Emin Bey, an Albanian Colonel of gendarmerie, who has been here all his life, and who is acting for the Christian Mutessarif of Sphakia, lately suspended from his functions, caused the immediate arrest of the gendarmes, and ordered an inquiry into the affair, which the Christians believe to have been a case of wilful murder of an innocent man. The inhabitants of Fre and of the neighbouring villages threaten that, if the Government does not punish the culprit, who, they say, is a native gendarme, they will revenge themselves; adding that, while they wish for tranquillity, the organs. of the Government act in such a manner as to compel Chistians to take to the mountains. On the 23rd ultimo a Mussulman was accidentally killed by the discharge of a rifle which a Christian was carrying, while the two men, who were friends, were shaking hands. Four days later, two gendarmes, one an Albanian, the other a Christian, who were conveying the furniture of the gendarmerie. station of Yerolako, commune of Keramia, to Perivolia, were found murdered, about half an hour's distance from the village of Mournies, which is in the plain of Canea. Each of the corpses bore two mortal bullet-wounds. Evidently the Christian was killed by mistake, as his body had not been mutilated when his coreligionists identified him, while the head of the Albanian was flattened with heavy stones. The arms, and everything belonging to the victims, had been carried off by the murderers, who are said to be two of Liapis' companions, who have temporarily detached themselves from the band. A military force was sent to Keramia, the Christian inhabitants of some of the villages of that commune were disarmed, and about twenty Christians imprisoned. The cousin of the murdered Albanian has been imprisoned for having, under the influence of drink, ill-treated one of the Christian Elders of the village of Mournies. I have, &c., The Marquess of Salisbury. ALFRED BILIOTTI. No. 39.-Sir W. White to the Marquess of Salisbury.--(Received March 20.) MY LORD, Constantinople, March 13, 1891. HAVING been to see the Grand Vizier this morning at his private residence, I mentioned to his Highness the subject of the reforms in Tribunals, tithes, and gendarmerie in the Island of Crete, about which Mr. Consul Biliotti has sent in a detailed Report, dated the 4th February, and your Lordship was pleased to give me instructions in your despatch of the 20th February, adding that Her Majesty's Government took naturally a deep interest in the pacification of that island, and had heard with regret of the frequent cases of murder in quite recent times. His Highness, in reply, stated that the Sublime Porte was extremely desirous to give careful study to any measures that might be introduced for the welfare of the inhabitants, but that these must be carefully considered and be within the limits of the Imperial Firman of last year recognizing the institutions of that island. Having on the 11th instant made certain inquiries from Mr. Biliotti on the subject of his previous statements, I received a reply from him last night, of which he says he sent your Lordship a copy, and I showed some portions of this to the Grand Vizier, upon which his Highness stated that communications were passing between the Porte and the Vali, but that no decision has been come to as vet upon these important subjects mentioned. Possibly, the Mushavir, Giorgi Pasha, who is a Christian, might be sent for to report verbally at Constantinople before a final decision was come to. I have, &c., The Marquess of Salisbury. W. A. WHITE. No. 41.-Consul Biliotti to the Marquess of Salisbury.—(Received March 24.) MY LORD, Canea, Crete, March 16, 1891. So much is said in the Greek papers about the heroic deeds of Joseph, or Siphis, Liapis in Crete, that it will not perhaps be superfluous to give an account of the antecedents and present proceedings of this individual. He belongs to a Sphakian family, which originally consisted of five brothers, Pavlos, Nicolis, Siphis (born in 1856), Manousso, and Georgi. In the year 1877, Manousso, who was then 18 years old and a shepherd, was found murdered in a cave, where he was said to have concealed a number of sheep which he had stolen, and which belonged to another Sphakian called Tsourdo. The murder had been committed with a gun which had belonged to a Sphakian named Poloyanni, but which had been stolen from its owner. Such, at all events, was the account given by the Poloyannis. But the discovery of Poloyanni's gun on the scene of the crime made the Liapis think that their brother Manousso had been murdered by the owner of the gun. They accordingly burnt Poloyanni's house to the ground and vowed vengeance on the whole family. The vendetta here includes all branches of a family, however remotely connected. In the year 1883, that is, six years later, Siphis Liapis, together with one of his brothers, Nicoli, murdered, in the village of Imbros, Leonidas Tsiridani, aged 23, who was closely related to the Poloyanuis. Three weeks later, the gendarmerie, under the command of ex-Major Christodulaki, the same who was a political refugee until quite recently in Greece, and who is also closely related to the Poloyaunis and Tsiridanis, killed Nicoli Liapis. About the same time, Nicolas Kouyoulouris, an uncle of Siphis Liapis, in order to escape assassination, removed from Sphakia to Messara, in the province of Candia, where, eighteen months after, he was murdered by Mussulmans at the instigation, it was rumoured, of the same Nicoli Christodulaki, who by that time had been appointed Major of gendarmerie at Candia. It was also rumoured that no steps had been taken by the gendarmerie to discover and apprehend the Mussulman murderers. In 1885 and 1886, Manoli Barnabas, of Mouri, Nikiforos Bardoulakis, of Livaniana, and Manoli Psaro, of Imbros, who belonged to the Poloyanni-Tsiridani party, were murdered by Liapie and his party, and Siphis, who had murdered with his own hand Manoli Psaro, took refuge in Greece, where he worked as a carpenter. In April 1886, Yoannis Poloyanni and Steliano Tsiridani murdered Pavlo Liapis in broad daylight in the town of Sphakia. In 1887, these two murderers and Nicoli Tsiridani, who accom panied them, were waylaid on a mountain path and fired upon by Georgi Liapis and one of his cousins, named Nicoli Velidaki or Liapis. Steliano Tsiridani was wounded, but his relatives, Yoannis and Nicolis, closed with the would-be assassins and killed them both. In September 1889, Siphis Liapis, whose four brothers had now been killed, returned to Crete to avenge their death. Being unable to find any one of the Poloyanni-Tsiridanis family, he murdered in cold blood and in broad daylight, in November of the same year, a brother-in-law of the Tsiridanis named Kirouhi Kirouhoyannaki, aged 65, his wife, Gabbia, aged 50, and their daughter, Catherine, aged 12, in the village of Vouva, district of Sphakia. The girl was at the fountain when her parents were murdered, and she was killed on entering the house with a pitcher of water. After this triple murder, Siphis Liapis sat on the top of the house of his victims, and for the rest of the day prevented the priest and the inhabitants of the village, by threatening to fire at them, from removing the corpses. In January 1890, Siphis Liapis shot dead Nicolo Tsiridani and cut his throat. Shortly after, Marousso Kirouhoyannaki, son of the man and his wife murdered at Vouva, murdered in his turn Manoussa Velidaki or Liapis, and in the same year he and Yoannis Poloyanni murdered Yanni Pastrezi, alias Kouroudaki, who belonged to Liapis' party. In the interval between the murder of the Kirouhoyannaki family and of Nicoli Tsiridani, that is, in December 1889, Liapis and a companion, lying in ambush, killed four and wounded three Turkish soldiers who were carrying provisions from the town of Sphakia to a fort called Frango-Castello, about two hours' distance, and carried off their arms. When he returned to Athens shortly after he received an ovation for having killed and wounded these soldiers, besides, I am told, a monthly pension of 120 drachmas for himself and 60 for his mother, who was in Greece. At the end of December last Liapis returned to Crete with four companions, and having gone to the village of Rodakino, district of Ayos Vassilios, he there killed in ambush a gendarme, and afterwards wounded a soldier in the village of Nathé, district of Apokorona, by firing on a passing patrol. At the same time he sent an address to the Consuls stating that he had returned to Crete to avenge the violation and murder of women and children committed by the Mussulmans on the island (vide my despatch of the 26th January). Two or three weeks later, with the assistance of Georgi |