DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9840#0047
INTRODUCTION.
XXXIX
no longer existed. The representatives of France and
England in Crete also wrote to M. Mimaut and Colonel
Campbell, with the same view: in what tone those gen-
tlemen remonstrated with the Viceroy of Egypt, I know
not.
The whole month of November thus passed away ;
and, early in December, the fruits of what may per-
haps look like the supineness of the European agents at
Alexandria, were reaped in almost every district of the
island. For Mehmet-Ali, when the Consuls did nothing
to stop him, decided on making an example of a cer-
tain number of Cretans, in order to strike terror into
the rest of their countrymen ; and the two Pashas re-
ceived, while at Fre, the Viceroy's definitive order.
They therefore, on the 3d of December, directed that
ten of the thirty-three peasants who had been arrested
and imprisoned, should be conducted to Murines, the
place of the meeting, and there hanged. It does not
appear that any names were given to the soldiers: the
number ten was all that was wanted, and it was quite
unimportant whether a Demetrius or a Basil, a Selim
or an Ismael was taken.
During the previous night, twenty-one other persons
were arrested, and executed in different parts of the
island. Few of those selected for destruction had been
present at the meeting, and it is certain that they were
seized simply in such a manner as seemed best calculated
to strike terror into the whole population1.
It was evident that both the Pashas had been com-
pelled to adopt this savage step against every wish and
opinion they entertained. When it was taken, Osman-
Nuredin remained a few days longer at Fre, and then
went on board a fast-sailing brig, giving orders to his
1 France is far better represented in Crete than any of the other great
powers of Europe : M. Fabreguette had done all he could to avert this blow
from the Cretans, and although he failed to do so, perhaps succeeded in dimi-
nishing its violence. The details of the executions of seven of the Viceroy's
victims are given in Vol. n. pp. 177—180.
XXXIX
no longer existed. The representatives of France and
England in Crete also wrote to M. Mimaut and Colonel
Campbell, with the same view: in what tone those gen-
tlemen remonstrated with the Viceroy of Egypt, I know
not.
The whole month of November thus passed away ;
and, early in December, the fruits of what may per-
haps look like the supineness of the European agents at
Alexandria, were reaped in almost every district of the
island. For Mehmet-Ali, when the Consuls did nothing
to stop him, decided on making an example of a cer-
tain number of Cretans, in order to strike terror into
the rest of their countrymen ; and the two Pashas re-
ceived, while at Fre, the Viceroy's definitive order.
They therefore, on the 3d of December, directed that
ten of the thirty-three peasants who had been arrested
and imprisoned, should be conducted to Murines, the
place of the meeting, and there hanged. It does not
appear that any names were given to the soldiers: the
number ten was all that was wanted, and it was quite
unimportant whether a Demetrius or a Basil, a Selim
or an Ismael was taken.
During the previous night, twenty-one other persons
were arrested, and executed in different parts of the
island. Few of those selected for destruction had been
present at the meeting, and it is certain that they were
seized simply in such a manner as seemed best calculated
to strike terror into the whole population1.
It was evident that both the Pashas had been com-
pelled to adopt this savage step against every wish and
opinion they entertained. When it was taken, Osman-
Nuredin remained a few days longer at Fre, and then
went on board a fast-sailing brig, giving orders to his
1 France is far better represented in Crete than any of the other great
powers of Europe : M. Fabreguette had done all he could to avert this blow
from the Cretans, and although he failed to do so, perhaps succeeded in dimi-
nishing its violence. The details of the executions of seven of the Viceroy's
victims are given in Vol. n. pp. 177—180.