Captain WAUCHOPE at the Age of 30.
In July 1878 a regiment of Scottish Highlanders was sent to occupy this fair island of the Orient in name of the Queen. The Black Watch from Malta, in the transport Himalaya, landed at Larnaka, and were distributed at various points for garrison duty, under the direction of General Sir Garnet Wolseley, as High Commissioner. Wolseley, having divided the island into districts, deputed the civil administration of these to a number of the most skilled of the military officers of the regiment. To Lieutenant Wauchope, then thirty-two years of age, was given, with the title of captain, the charge of the town and district of Papho—the ancient Paphos, where the Apostles' journey through the island closed, and where Elymas the sorcerer was struck blind for a time. As assistant-commissioner Wauchope was well supported by Lieutenant A. G. Duff, a young officer of his company, who furnishes us with some particulars of their duties and difficulties there. The post was anything but a sinecure. He had the superintendence of the revenue under Sir Robert Biddulph, then Financial Commissioner of the island. In this important office he set himself with all the earnestness of his nature to the correction of abuses, the suppression of crime, and the establishment of law and order, out of which only can freedom and security be attained. We have it on the authority of Mr. F. H. Parker, the District Judge of Limasol, that 'not only was he a most efficient governor, but in those days, when Ottoman judges sat in the Daavi (District) Court, he presided as a just and capable judge. Though more than twenty years have elapsed since then, the inhabitants,' he says, 'irrespective of creed or nationality, still look back on his civil administration with admiration and deep respect. Even to this day his decisions in disputed land or water rights are relied on as res judicata, and he invariably decided these after minute and personal local inquiries.' During his two years' service on the island—from 17th June 1878 till July 1880—Wauchope acquitted himself with much judgment and discretion, and the honours thrust upon him were worthily achieved as they were gratefully given. But while Captain Wauchope's administration in Cyprus was marked with justice, it was sometimes of a kind that did not always give satisfaction. His punishment, for instance, of heinous crimes was considered by the natives to be of such severity that a complaint was lodged with the Colonial Office against some sentences where he had ordered the delinquents to be flogged. On inquiry being made of him by the Colonial Office as to what he had to say in the matter, his reply was that 'flogging was the only thing for them, as they richly deserved more than the punishment they had got, and he thought it was better for them than hanging'!
Sergeant M'Gaw's funeral
His duties did not end in military, or administrative, or judicial service, for sometimes he had even to act as chaplain in cases of emergency, as the following instance will show. A day or two after they landed, Sergeant M'Gaw of the 42nd—who had gallantly won the Victoria Cross at Amoaful—took ill under the excessive heat and died. The regimental chaplain was not present, but Wauchope followed the funeral with his company, and at the grave, stepping forward as the body was about to be committed to the dust, feelingly addressed his men in a few appropriate words of exhortation, and concluded, to the surprise and gratification of all, with an earnest extempore prayer. Tears, we are told by one who witnessed the occurrence, were in the eyes of many a stalwart soldier that day, and the incident made a deep impression at the time and was never forgotten by them. A sequel to Sergeant M'Gaw's funeral may here be mentioned as another instance of Wauchope's thoughtful care. Some time afterwards it was discovered that the Cypriote farmer on whose land the sergeant was buried, had removed the little wooden head-mark, and not unnaturally ploughed up the land and destroyed all trace of the grave. The Government was asked to take action, but declined to interfere. So Wauchope and some others went on a moonlight night, and after taking measurements from a certain tree, discovered the grave, dug up the remains, removed them to Kyrenia, and placed them in what is now known as the Black Watch cemetery. A pure white marble sarcophagus now covers Sergeant M'Gaw's grave.
After the long reign of Turkish misrule it will be easily understood that Commissioner Wauchope and his colleague Lieutenant Duff did not all at once find things easy. On the contrary, they found it very hard work. The rascality of the natives was as idyllic as innocence. Murder and theft were so common that they were scarcely considered culpable, and this in what has been called an 'enchanted island,' full of every beauty to satisfy the eye, and every fruit to satisfy the taste. Even ten years after the occupation by the British, and notwithstanding all our efforts to restore order and justice, W. H. Mallock, describing his visit to Cyprus in 1888, says that 'he found there more crime in proportion to the population than in any other known country in the world.' In Nicosia the prisons were full of persons, male and female, confined for murder, theft, etc. 'In the country districts,' he says, 'the cause of murders has generally some connection with sheep-stealing or disputes about boundaries and water rights, or matters equally simple. In the towns the Turkish murders nearly always originate in some ordinary fit of sombre but sudden passion, and the Greek murders in some half-drunken brawl. Curiously enough, a number of these last take place at weddings. Wine has flowed; quarrelling has arisen out of laughter; knives have flashed, and in a second or two one knife has been red with blood. Yet amid so much crime there exists among this degraded people a whimsical simplicity almost justifying a smile.' One instance, as given by Mr. Mallock, will suffice to illustrate this. One of three men implicated in a murder fled to the hut of a shepherd, and begged to be kept there in hiding. The shepherd, who had only a slight acquaintance with the man, asked why he wished to be hidden. On this the murderer, more like a child than a man, explained everything in the most naïve manner possible. The shepherd looked grave. He said that this was a serious matter, and that under the circumstances his protection would have to be paid for. The murderer replied that the booty had not yet been divided; 'I have no money,' he said, 'but save me and I will steal a sheep for you!'
A Cyprian judge
It was among criminals such as these, and a population with the vaguest possible notions of morality, that Wauchope had to deal out justice. How did he accomplish his task? His friend and colleague, now Major Duff, tells us: 'His administration of justice was a marvel, and astonished both Turks and Greeks. He would frequently sit a whole day in the Konak or court-house, dispensing even-handed justice. All the evidence had to be taken through an interpreter, involving much delay, and frequently he sat in this way under high fever. I have sometimes taken his temperature to find it at 105°, but he bore all physical pain without a murmur, and no complaint ever passed his lips.' Papho was considered the most lawless district in the island; and the administration of justice, in both civil and criminal cases, in the hands of Captain Wauchope and Lieutenant Duff, with the aid of an interpreter, involved painstaking discretion of no ordinary kind. 'The Cadi—a Turkish judge—had a seat on the bench along with them, and his opinion was always taken, though not always followed. One incident comes to my memory relating to an execution. We had passed sentence upon a murderer, but were in a difficulty about the gallows, and did not know what to do for want of a suitable rope, but fortunately H.M.S. Raleigh unexpectedly put in an appearance in the bay, and the bluejackets readily came to our aid in rigging up a makeshift gallows. The ceremony, however, was not marked with complete success, as, at the first effort, the rope broke; but death had supervened, so that it was of no consequence, as the operation did not require to be repeated. There must have been some flaw in the rope, as it had been previously tried with a very heavy man's weight. We never had any difficulty in the administration of justice. Wauchope's impartial and thoroughly sound sense of judgment as between man and man, always stood him well with clients and malefactors.'
One case came before him which in this connection is worthy of being recorded. A Turk of infamous character, who had been guilty of horrible crimes, but had escaped punishment under the Turkish rule, was brought before Commissioner Wauchope on a charge of murder. The murder was clearly proved, but doubts were entertained whether the Commissioner would sentence a Mohammedan to be hanged. No such instance had ever been known in the island before. Wauchope did not flinch. He pronounced the sentence, and the murderer was publicly executed. The Commissioner took the precaution, however, of having a company of his Royal Highlanders on the ground to see that there should be no disturbance or any attempt at rescue, and all passed off peacefully.