The Cretan Insurrection of 1866-7-8

by William James Stillman

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.