The first relief was the flying visit of Admiral Lord Clarence Paget,
in the _Psyche_ despatch-boat, direct from Constantinople _en route_
for Malta, to inform us that the _Arethusa_ had been ordered to Crete.
This was a reprieve of a few days, and was followed by complete
freedom from anxiety on the arrival of the _Arethusa_, the sound of
whose saluting guns at Suda Bay (the port of Canéa for large ships)
produced an emotion which was like waking from a long nightmare. We
all went to Suda to pay our official and personal visits, which the
officers returned, and bluejackets swarming in the town, and racing
over the plain of Canéa like mad fox-hunters, hilarious, indifferent
to yataghan or bullet, as if they were anything but Giaours, assured
both Turk and Christian that at least the Europeans must be respected.
We took down our barricades, and again moved about freely; yet the
feeling was so strong amongst the Mussulmans that the English were
on their side that the native Christians experienced no benefit from
the cause which brought us comparative relief. We attended service
the Sunday subsequent to the arrival of the _Arethusa_ on board, and,
lunching with Captain McDonald, were called from the table to see
the stars and stripes rounding the point and entering the bay. They
floated from the gaff of the corvette _Ticonderoga_, whose commandant,
being at Trieste, came for old friendship's sake to look after us
on getting the first news of the insurrection. Her stay for a few
days was a demonstration of force which, so far as I was concerned,
left a most healthy impression as to my being supported by the United
States Government, the more that the _Ticonderoga_ sailed from Suda
direct for Constantinople (according to her commander's original
intention), a course which produced a general impression in Crete that
she had gone to support my view on the question. Nothing could exceed
in friendliness and cordiality the manner in which the commander,
Commodore Steedman, and his officers supported me in my difficult
position, and identified the national dignity with the respect due to
the humblest of its representatives. The _Arethusa_, a few days after
her arrival, was succeeded by H. B. M.'s gunboat _Wizard_, which during
several subsequent months was our only and sufficient protector. Her
humane and gallant young commander, Murray, will ever be remembered
with gratitude and honor by every European resident in Crete during the
insurrection. He placed us all under obligations of many kinds which a
passing notice can only faintly recognize.
Meanwhile, the dissension between the Governor-General and the Egyptian
Pasha increased in violence, until anything like co-operation became
impossible, the policy of the latter being clearly pacific with a show
of force. He wished to avoid a collision as long as possible, hoping
still to conciliate Cretan public opinion, while Ismael was determined
to do everything in his power to bring about hostilities. The Egyptian
therefore threw himself for support on the consular body, from whom he
received that degree of support which their instructions and personal
sympathies rendered possible, as, with the exception of M. Derché, all
the members of the corps were anxious to prevent bloodshed.
The committee sent to the Italian and Russian consuls and myself
urgent entreaties that we would persuade the Egyptians to withdraw
from Vrysis, a position which provoked attack by the Cretans, as, if
maintained by the troops, it prevented all strategical movements by
the insurrectionary forces. This request we all urged on the attention
of Schahin, and he energetically demanded from the Governor-General
permission to withdraw the menaced battalions. The effective reply
of the Governor was to withdraw all the Turkish supports, and leave
Schahin to his own resources, compelling him to devote two of his four
battalions remaining to keeping open the communications of Vrysis with
the sea-shore. While this family quarrel paralyzed the government at
Canéa, the Mussulmans in Selinos, a fortress on the south side of the
island, were shut in by strong guards of Christians posted on the
hills round about, and were even more impatient than at Canéa because
more inconvenienced, and finally made a sortie on one of the adjoining
Christian villages. They were fruitlessly warned back, and, persisting,
were fired upon, and several killed and wounded. Ismael immediately
called a council of war, and made a requisition on Schahin for a
battalion of Egyptians to go with another of Turks to the relief of the
Seliniotes. Schahin sent for me at once to advise him on the matter. I
recommended him strongly not to obey the requisition, as the breach of
the peace having taken place between the indigenes of the two religions
justified him in assuming that hostilities did not exist, and,
according to his instructions, that he was under no circumstances to be
drawn into an offensive movement. He therefore returned answer that,
his battalions at Vrysis being menaced, and this affair being only a
collision between Cretans of the two religions, he was not justified
in withdrawing any of his remaining troops from a position where they
might be needed to secure the safety of those already compromised,
and declined to obey the requisition. The expedition was therefore
abandoned, though the steamers were lying in the roadstead with steam
up ready to transport the troops. At the same time, news arrived from
Vrysis that the Cretans had concentrated at the passes, and forbade
the sending of any more supplies to the Egyptian camp, under penalty
of attack. This produced another request from Schahin to the Russian
consul and myself to urge the committee to take no such offensive step,
he promising at the same time not to make common cause with the Turkish
troops, even should they be attacked, so long as the Egyptian troops
were not molested in any way.
On the heels of this came news of another sortie from Selinos of the
Mussulmans, which had been repulsed, as well as another of the regular
troops made in support of them. The receipt of this news brought
excitement in Canéa to its culmination, and irritation toward the
insurgents (for such they had substantially become) began to find
expression in acts of violence to unoffending Christians in and about
the city. A Christian who kept horses for hire at the gates of the
city, was attacked and beaten and stabbed to death; immediately after,
another, in the city, met the same fate; and the authorities taking no
notice whatever of these murders, the fanatics, emboldened and having
tasted blood, murdered, pillaged, and robbed in every direction.
The panic which ensued amongst the few remaining Christians was
indescribable. Many started on foot, alone or in small parties, for the
mountains, but, having been entirely disarmed, most of them were cut
off and murdered on the way. Others, coming to the city in ignorance of
these events, were met and shot down on the roads. No one was allowed
to carry arms to defend himself, nor was any investigation made into
these matters. The state of the country for the next few days defies
description. Gunshots were heard in every direction, and the more
friendly of the Mussulman peasantry brought news of single bodies here,
and groups there, by the roadside, in houses, and in chapels, where
they had taken refuge. No one dared go out to investigate the truth
of most of these reports, but the secretary of the Greek consul made
an excursion, accompanied by several cavasses, as far as Galatas, a
village of the plain, three miles from Canéa, and counted seven dead
bodies naked by the way. By the sea-side, between my house and the
city, were the slaughter-houses where all the cattle and sheep for the
use of the city and army were butchered. Here were ordinarily immense
flocks of ravens, accustomed to batten without disturbance on the offal
thrown out on the shore. Within two or three days the whole of those
birds deserted the shore, where they did not reappear for weeks, but
were to be seen in small flocks hovering amongst the olive-groves of
the plain.
During this state of things, extreme hostilities broke out at several
points of the island. The messengers we had sent to the committee to
urge a truce with the Egyptians had not been permitted to pass the
lines, or for some other reason failed in reaching their destination,
so that our message was never received by the committee, who, in
pursuance of their previous resolution, summoned the Egyptians
peremptorily to leave the Apokorona or take the consequences, and, the
refusal being equally peremptory, the committee ordered their forces to
close at once upon the troops, cut off access to the springs, and close
the passage to all relief. The unfortunate Egyptians, disastrously
repulsed in an attempt to recover the springs of water from which they
had their daily supply, were driven within their entrenched camp and
closely blockaded. The battalions ordered to reopen the communications,
being also repulsed in their attack in the passes, and those in camp
having exhausted all their ammunition, food, and water, were compelled
to surrender at discretion. The Cretans permitted them to march out
with their arms and all of their equipments they could carry, and gave
them forty-eight hours to send mules without escort to carry off the
remainder. No parole even was exacted not to bear arms in future.
Simultaneously with this affair, the Turkish troops at Selinos,
having made a sortie in force on the Christians who beleaguered
them, were drawn into the defiles of the mountains, and were then
attacked, beaten, and driven into the mountain fortress of Candanos,
where they were blockaded closely. These feats of arms naturally
elated the Cretans, and exasperated the Turks correspondingly. The
Governor-General lost all self-possession, and abandoned the reins
of government to his subordinates. Confusion became anarchy, and,
to increase the dismay, the few remaining Christians in the cities
were forbidden to leave the island. The Egyptians, mortified by their
defeat, assailed the Christians in the villages nearest their new
encampment in the most brutal and barbarous manner.
The presence of the _Wizard_ in the port alone prevented a general
massacre of the Christians in Canéa. Assemblies of the Mussulman
Cretans were held in their quarter of the city, with the avowed purpose
of going out to kill the Christians in the suburbs, beginning with
the consuls. The military authorities had the presence of mind to
close the gates to all Christians entering or Mussulmans leaving the
town. The whole Christian population of the island seemed in arms, and
considerable parties of them made raids within sight of the walls of
the city, carrying off as prisoners a number of Mussulmans who were
engaged in getting in the vintage.
At the moment when it seemed impossible that confusion should not
end in universal anarchy and massacre, the Imperial Commissioner
arrived. Mustapha Kiritli Pasha had, by an impartial and energetic,
if barbarous, administration of the affairs of the island, secured
the respect and even esteem of the Christians, while his merciless
repression of previous insurrections had inspired the strongest belief
in his military capacity. As he entered the town, a Christian was shot
down in the road behind him, one of the few who, influenced by the old
regard for the Pasha, ventured to follow in his train; and, at the same
moment, another was stabbed to death within a few hundred yards--a
well-known employee of one of the principal Turkish beys, whose
position had hitherto been his protection. The installation of Mustapha
checked these disorders, and, investigation being ordered into them,
the Governor-General, whose incapacity and malevolence became apparent,
was peremptorily ordered to leave for Constantinople, not even being
allowed time to pack his household furniture. The Commissioner at once
commenced organizing and preparing expeditions to attack the Christians
and relieve the troops cooped up at Candanos. The Cretan Mohammedans,
to the number of 5,000, were regularly enrolled as volunteers. Strict
orders were given in every direction for the protection of unarmed
individuals, and in all the villages within the power of the government
forces the option was given to the inhabitants of inscribing themselves
as friends of the government and taking written protection--a course
which would expose them to the hostility of the insurgent forces--or
of joining their co-religionists in the mountains. A proclamation
was issued, directed to the committee, in which the insurgents were
summoned instantly to submit and give up their arms. No concessions
were made, none even promised; the purport of the firman was, "Submit,
be good children, and you shall see what you shall see!" As was to be
expected, the committee, flushed by its recent successes and encouraged
by the promise of succor from Greece, where committees had been formed
at the first news of hostilities having commenced, rejected the
proclamation contemptuously, and issued a counter-proclamation, which
was forwarded to all the consuls and to the ministers at Constantinople.
As I shall have, in the course of this history, to make serious
question of the conduct of the Greek government, I shall do it the
justice to say that, to the best of my information, it had up to this
time utterly discouraged the insurrection as injudicious and ill-timed.
But the affair of Vrysis had so great an effect on public opinion in
Greece that the government was obliged to make concessions to it.
Mustapha found the Egyptian army diminished and utterly demoralized by
defeat. About 12,000 Turkish troops were in the island, indifferently
equipped and in a poor state of discipline; added to these, he had his
5,000 irregulars and a few hundred Albanians. From these he organized
an army of about 10,000 men, with whom he marched to the relief of
Candanos. The direct passes were all held by the Cretans in such
strength that the Turks were unable to force their way, and they were
obliged, therefore, to make a long détour through the western part of
the island, constantly harassed by parties of the insurgents, who held
all the advantageous positions on the route.
The expedition succeeded in relieving Candanos without a fight, the
Cretans retiring before the overpowering forces of the Commissioner,
not too soon for the besieged, who were at the verge of starvation
before relief arrived. The siege was marked by the usual atrocities
of those religious barbarian conflicts. An incident, related to me by
a Christian Cretan who assisted at the siege, will suffice to show
the animus by which they were already possessed. Some of the besieged
Cretans, recognizing a brother of a prisoner in their possession
amongst the besiegers, killed the prisoner, and, cutting him up as the
butchers cut meat, hung the members above the parapet, calling to the
besiegers that they had meat yet. The besiegers retaliated by treating
half-a-dozen prisoners in the same way, and calling to the besiegers
that, if they wanted more, they might come and get it.[E]
[E] The position of Candanos, although impregnable to direct assault,
was commanded on all sides by hills within speaking distance, but
which the Cretans had neither artillery nor rifles to take advantage
of.
The Commissioner withdrew immediately, taking in his escort all the
Mussulman families who had been blockaded in Selinos and Candanos,
together with those of some neighboring villages who had not hitherto
been molested by the Christians, the insurrectionary committee having
still hopes of conciliating the opposition of their Mussulman
compatriots, and, in pursuance of this policy, having given orders
to do everything possible to induce the Mussulmans to make common
cause with the Christians. These, however, augmented the train of the
Commissioner with their families and flocks, and the return of the
army so encumbered was slow and dangerous, the Christians following
and harassing the flanks, showing resistance in front at all difficult
passes, and cutting off stragglers; the troops, in retaliation,
destroying all villages on the road of return as they had on that of
going. I had been able to watch from my balcony the departure of the
troops, and follow their line of march by the smoke of the burning
villages; and after two weeks' absence, during the latter part of
which no communications had been kept up between the army and the
capital, the wildest panic prevailing at headquarters, where rumors
were generally believed to the effect that the whole army had been
blockaded, I was able, from the same point, to perceive the return of
the troops by the same ominous indications. In returning by a shorter
route than that followed in going, the army had to pass by a difficult
ravine, called Kakopetra, where the Christians made a determined
attack and attempt to block the road, in which they would certainly
have succeeded had they possessed modern firearms, but as they were
armed mostly with the tufeks of their grandfathers, or pistols of the
war of Greek independence, an attack on equal terms was impossible.
The Pasha, by throwing out his irregulars on both sides to keep back
the insurgents, and pressing down the road, with the imperial troops
and Egyptian regulars escorting the families and flocks, succeeded in
forcing his way through, though with serious loss. A European surgeon
attached to the government hospital at Canéa assured me that the killed
amounted to 120 and the wounded to upwards of 800, the wounds being
mostly slight from spent balls apparently fired from pistols. In fact,
if the Cretans had been well armed and provided with good ammunition,
the campaign would probably have ended there and then, and Kakopetra
become as famous as Askypho in the great insurrection, when the same
Mustapha, in 1823, was blockaded, and his army almost exterminated,
himself, with his immediate followers, only escaping by scattering the
contents of the military treasury on the road.
The successful return of the army to Canéa was the signal of the most
enthusiastic rejoicings on the part of the Mussulman population of
Canéa, who, with the extravagance of a semi-barbaric people, had passed
the last few days in the wildest frenzy of fear and irritation.