The Porte had always respected its Treaties with Greece, and had given her no cause of complaint or offence, yet she was at this moment seeking a pretext for fixing a quarrel upon Turkey.

The occurrences at Kavarna had been magnified into a massacre of the Greeks, and public opinion in Greece had been excited by the publication of the most untruthful accounts of them. This had been done designedly by the Hellenic Government.

His Excellency went on to say that he had that morning spoken on the matter to M. Condourioti, who had given him the usual vague assurances that Greece had no intention of attacking Turkey. Could he, his Excellency asked, place any reliance upon them in the face of facts which were notorious to the whole world?

Server Pasha observed that he had too much trust and confidence in the justice and good faith of England to believe that she would permit Greece to pursue a policy which was a violation of rights and Treaties, and of the conditions upon which the protection of England and other Powers had been extended to her.

I have, &c.

My Lord,

Mr. Stuart to the Earl of Derby.-(Received September 2.)

Athens, August 24, 1877. I HAVE the honour to report that although military preparations are certainly being carried on throughout Greece with considerable activity, in view of eventualities which are supposed to be possible, I have received renewed assurances from M. Tricoupi, this afternoon, that there is no intention on the part of the Hellenic Government to attack Turkey at present, and that the different Committees are co-operating with the Government and endeavouring to prevent the separate action of their agents.

I have, &c.

(Extract.)

Mr. Stuart to the Earl of Derby.-(Received September 2.)

Athens, August 25, 1877. M. TRICOUPI was more ready and earnest than usual yesterday in declaring to me that there was no intention to make any attack upon Turkey at present, and I understood from him that the Government and the Committees, acting in concert, were endeavouring to discourage any outbreak in the Hellenic Provinces of Turkey, as well as to prevent any armed bands from crossing the frontier from Greece.

I had questioned him upon the subject in consequence of having seen reports in the Greek ewspapers of yesterday morning respecting more than one alleged engagement betw and Greek brigands, or so-called insurgents, in the neighbourhood

of t

at having received, shortly before, two official notes from ic Government of having connived at the violation of dected the escape of bands who had lifted cattle in Turkish villages, before being repulsed and

ations in consequence of information which Jocal Ottoman authorities, and M. Tricoupi resented; that no bands had crossed the + have taken place with Greek subjects of Circassian villages, or with bands of ped with cattle into Greece, the Greek d judicial proceedings against them,

isadvantage at which the Hellenic ations, as the Ottoman Government unicate with their Government by

Government to remain indifferent, in view of a state of affairs for which henceforward it declines all responsibility.

Awaiting the result of the representation I have made by my preceding telegram to the Guaranteeing Powers of Greece, I beg you to call the most serious attention of his Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs to the above, and to ask his advice as to the attitude which the Sublime Porte should maintain in view of this situation. I await, most anxiously, the result of your further representation.

Sir,

No. 22.

The Earl of Derby to Mr. Layard.

Foreign Office, August 28, 1877.

THE Turkish Ambassador communicated to me on the 27th instant the telegram from Server Pasha, of which I inclose a copy herewith,* complaining of inroads committed from Greece across the Turkish frontier.

In an interview which I had subsequently with Musurus Pasha I told his Excellency that I would be ready to represent the matter to the Greek Government, and to request explanations from them on the subject.

I received shortly afterwards, however, from Her Majesty's Minister at Athens a telegram† to the effect that M. Tricoupi entirely denies the accusations brought against the Greek Government respecting encounters near the frontier, and affirms that no Greek band had crossed the frontier; that the affair near Trikala of which the Porte complained was a conflict between a Greek and a Mussulman village, in which brigands might have taken part, but that the Greek troops at once arrested and imprisoned those who escaped into Greece, and restored the cattle to the Turkish authorities.

Mr. Stuart added that the Greek Government appeared to him most anxious to avoid giving any just cause of offence to Turkey at present, and he expressed his opinion that it would be better for the Turkish authorities to inquire carefully into facts before assuming that the Greek Government had committed or connived at acts of hostility on the frontier.

I thought it well to make Musurus Pasha acquainted with the substance of the above, stating that I should be glad to learn the opinion of his Government on the assurances thus received before I proceeded to make any representation such as Server Pasha desired.

My Lord,

Mr. Layard to the Earl of Derby.-(Received August 29.)

Therapia, August 20, 1877.

SERVER PASHA, whom I saw to-day at his usual weekly reception, informed me that he was about to send a telegram to Musurus Pasha to instruct him to speak to your Lordship about Greece.

His Excellency said that he desired to appeal on this subject to England not as a neutral Power, but as one of the protecting Powers, which made a great difference.

From trustworthy information received from Athens, he was convinced that Greece would before long attack Turkey.

Preparations on a large scale were being made for this object.

Large supplies of arms were being obtained, the money for part of which came from Russian sources.

The Greek Government, in violation of the law and the Constitution, were inviting subjects of the Porte across the frontier and enrolling them for service against Turkey.

Would the protecting Powers, his Excellency asked, permit Greece to make a wanton agression on Turkey?

The Porte had always respected its Treaties with Greece, and had given her no cause of complaint or offence, yet she was at this moment seeking a pretext for fixing a quarrel upon Turkey.

The occurrences at Kavarna had been magnified into a massacre of the Greeks, and public opinion in Greece had been excited by the publication of the most untruthful accounts of them. This had been done designedly by the Hellenic Government. His Excellency went on to say that he had that morning spoken on the matter to M. Condourioti, who had given him the usual vague assurances that Greece had no intention of attacking Turkey. Could he, his Excellency asked, place any reliance upon them in the face of facts which were notorious to the whole world?

Server Pasha observed that he had too much trust and confidence in the justice and good faith of England to believe that she would permit Greece to pursue a policy which was a violation of rights and Treaties, and of the conditions upon which the protection of England and other Powers had been extended to her.

I have, &c. (Signed)

A. H. LAYARD.

No. 24.

My Lord,

Mr. Stuart to the Earl of Derby.-(Received September 2.)

Athens, August 24, 1877. I HAVE the honour to report that although military preparations are certainly being carried on throughout Greece with considerable activity, in view of eventualities. which are supposed to be possible, I have received renewed assurances from M. Tricoupi, this afternoon, that there is no intention on the part of the Hellenic Government to attack Turkey at present, and that the different Committees are co-operating with the Government and endeavouring to prevent the separate action of their agents.

I have, &c.

(Extract.)

Mr. Stuart to the Earl of Derby.-(Received September 2.)

Athens, August 25, 1877. M. TRICOUPI was more ready and earnest than usual yesterday in declaring to me that there was no intention to make any attack upon Turkey at present, and I understood from him that the Government and the Committees, acting in concert, were endeavouring to discourage any outbreak in the Hellenic Provinces of Turkey, as well as to prevent any armed bands from crossing the frontier from Greece.

I had questioned him upon the subject in consequence of having seen reports in the Greek newspapers of yesterday morning respecting more than one alleged engagement between Turkish troops and Greek brigands, or so-called insurgents, in the neighbourhood of the frontier.

He was much annoyed at having received, shortly before, two official notes from Photiades Bey, accusing the Hellenic Government of having connived at the violation of the Ottoman frontier, and of having protected the escape of bands who had lifted cattle and committed other worse outrages upon Turkish villages, before being repulsed and pursued by the troops.

Photiades Bey had made those representations in consequence of information which had been sent to him by telegraph from the local Ottoman authorities, and M. Tricoupi said that the facts had been entirely misrepresented; that no bands had crossed the frontier; that the engagements in question must have taken place with Greek subjects of Turkey, or between Greek and Mussulman or Circassian villages, or with bands of brigands; and that as regards those who had escaped with cattle into Greece, the Greek authorities had at once arrested them and initiated judicial proceedings against them, besides restoring the cattle to the Turks.

M. Tricoupi complained very much of the disadvantage at which the Hellenic Government were placed by such official misrepresentations, as the Ottoman Government would not permit the Greek Consular Agents to communicate with their Government by

telegraph in cypher, nor indeed to send any telegram of which the local authorities might disapprove. As he had received a telegram from the Consul at Larissa, to the effect that the accusations of the Ottoman authorities in the present instance were unfounded, he presumed, from the fact of such a telegram having been permitted to pass, that those authorities must have been aware that they had been previously misinformed. As the reports in the Greek newspapers to which I have alluded appear to refer to several different encounters and outrages near the frontier, which may possibly be brought to your Lordship's notice by Mr. Layard or by Her Majesty's Consular Agents in Thessaly, I have thought it might be of use to inclose the accompanying collection of extracts relating thereto.

That from the "Hora " may almost be taken as official, as it exactly corresponds with some of the explanations which were given to me yesterday by M. Tricoupi.

Inclosure in No. 25.

Newspaper Extracts.

From the "Hora" of August, 1877.

THE Ottoman authorities maliciously represent the events at Passali as having been caused by 120 men who had crossed the frontier from Greece. The letters received yesterday from Thessaly assert that this rumour is entirely false, and unanimously testify that the attack on Passali was, for reasons of vengeance, made by the inhabitants of the neighbouring village of Masli, and that the proprietor of this village was arrested and imprisoned by order of the Ottoman authorities. Whilst the Ottoman authorities endeavoured to accuse the Greek troops on the frontiers of having rendered assistance to the inhabitants of Masli pursued by the Turkish forces, it has now been proved, even by the official reports of the Ottoman employés, that the Greek troops had seized and has spontaneously restored to the Turks the cattle lifted, and that the persons pursued had not been protected, but that twenty of them who had crossed the frontier had been arrested and imprisoned, and handed over to justice, proceedings against them being already instituted.

From the "Stoa" of August 13, 1877.

From letters received yesterday evening from Thessaly to our address, we learn that the Turks see everywhere insurrections and insurgents. Thus Achmet Pasha last week went with a strong force to Hagia, but not finding insurgents, rifled the village of Athanati. It would appear that the first telegram of the Governor of Tricala, and that of yesterday from the Governor of Larissa, both refer to this excursion of Achmet Pasha, as it was spread in Thessaly that he had had an engagement with, and had put to flight, some insurgents, from whom he had taken ten muskets and two loads of ammunition.

Whatever there may be, it is evident that Thessaly has begun to move, and it is not improbable that the oppression and increasing insolence of the Turks since their late success in Bulgaria will hasten the crisis.

12
From the "Stoa" of August 4, 1877.

Our Lamia correspondent writes to us that last Sunday a considerable body attacked the village of Drachani, close to Domoco, in which Circassians had settled; some houses were burnt, and three or four Circassians were killed. The Turkish authorities of Domoco on hearing this sent a detachment of regular troops, which, after some feeble resistance, repulsed the insurgents. Of these seventeen arrived on the frontier line, and gave themselves up to the Captain of the Greek detachment; the remainder took refuge in the mountain. In this engagement Scondra was wounded.

From the "Ephimeris" of August, 1877.

(Private Correspondence of the "Ephimeris.")

Lamia, August 9, 1877. On the Ottoman side of the entire frontier line are to be found 200 insurgents, escaping from the evils imposed by the Turks. They are divided into three or four small bodies. They can suffer no longer. The night before last a band of certain unknown persons, in ambush about Almyro, were attacked by the officer of Customs and three guards; the last three were killed, the officer succeeded to escape. This was sufficient for the Turks, who immediately decided to arrest, as guilty of brigandage, Scondra and others, but they, foreseeing that they would be victims, assembled armed, and left, after a prolonged engagement, in which Scondra was killed, and the remainder (eighty) turned insurgents under Spanos.

Another band of insurgents, unknown to us, is in the neighbourhood of Aghios Joannou; we do not know their number. Finally, every day from this, cause having been once given, we shall witness the like. The Christians cannot suffer any longer; and the most bellicose are the first to throw themselves headlong to give the pass-word. For the present there are about 200 without a leader, as I have already told without a recognized leader.

From the same Paper.

you, that is,

The Governor of Thessaly has telegraphed here to the Ottoman Minister, Photiades Bey, that a band of about seventy armed men attacked the village Plochani, inhabited lately by Circassian settlers, some of whom were ill-treated. And by the Hellenic authorities on the frontier it is announced to us that seventeen men of this band, who apparently was repulsed by the Turks, were arrested by the Greek military detachment on the frontier.

No. 26.

Server Pasha to Musurus Pasha.-(Communicated to the Earl of Derby by Musurus Pasha, September 3.)

(Télégraphique.)

REÇU télégramme.

Constantinopte, le 30 Août, 1877.

Je m'empresserai de le soumettre à Sa Majesté Impériale le Sultan. En attendant, veuillez exprimer à Lord Derby les remerciments de la Sublime Porte pour les conseils amicaux qu'il veut bien nous donner, et que nous sommes heureux de considérer comme une nouvelle preuve de l'intérêt bienveillant que le Gouvernement de Sa Majesté Britannique porte à l'Empire Ottoman. Le Cabinet d'Athènes ne cesse de nous donner également des assurances sur son désir d'entretenir des rapports de bon voisinage avec nous. Je dois vous déclarer formellement que le Gouvernement Impérial est, de son côté, animé bien sincèrement du même désir, et qu'il n'a aucune intention hostile contre la Grèce. Malheureusement, les faits ne répondent pas aux assurances pacifiques du Gouvernement Hellénique. En effet, les bandes qui ont franchies la frontière n'ont pas encore été rappelées; leurs chefs restent impunis; de nouvelles bandes s'organisent et se forment librement; des volontaires continuent à être clandestinement recrutés en masse parmi nos populations, ce qui constitue une violation flagrante du droit international; les Comités révolutionnaires s'agitent avec une activité toujours croissante, sans que les autorités Helléniques, qui sont parfaitement au courant de ces agissements, usent du droit que leur confère la constitution même du pays pour sévir contre des menées qui touchent directement aux intérêts communs des deux Etats; et enfin, bien que la liberté de la presse en Grèce assure aux journaux une indépendance complète, les organes officiels du Cabinet laissent parler ces feuilles sans rien dire contre leurs écarts de langage qui surexcitent l'esprit public. Tant que cet état des choses durera, le Gouvernement Impérial considérera la tranquillité de ses provinces limitrophes comme sérieusement menacée, et ne saurait par conséquent le laisser passer inaperçu. Dans un moment où l'Empire se trouve aux prises avec un ennemi fort et puissant, ce n'est certes pas la Sublime Porte qui provoquera de nouvelles complications; mais, lorsque, sous ses propres yeux, on cherche à tirer parti de cette situation, et que tout est mis en œuvre pour soulever une contréc qui jouit de l'ordre et de la tranquillité, n'est-ce pas un devoir sacré pour un Gouverne.