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The disfranchisement of Bridgwater, Beverley, Sligo, and Cashel, showed that Parliament was in earnest in its resolution to give effect to the provisions of the New Reform Act; the Bill introduced for this purpose by the Attorney-General being based upon the reports of the Commissioners who had been specially appointed to inquire into the secrets of electioneering, which proved to be be among the worst records of corruption contained in its annals.

A new Foreign Enlistment Act, introduced by the AttorneyGeneral, enabled the Government to prohibit the building as well as the escape of Alabamas, but compelled the Admiralty to release them on receipt of a bond to the effect that they were not to be employed for any illegal work; and the introducer claimed for it that it would "go beyond any statute law passed in any country for the purpose of enforcing neutrality."

Among the failures of the session are to be enumerated some of no trivial importance. The University Tests Bill, introduced by Sir John Coleridge, was carried through the Commons, but practically thrown out by the Lords, Lord Salisbury succeeding in having it deferred to another session. The Ballot Bill was not very energetically pushed, and the Marriage Law Amendment Bill, repealing the ecclesiastical prohibition of the marriage of widowers with their sisters-in-law, succeeded in the Commons to fail again in the Lords. Sir George Jenkinson failed to obtain legislative interference with the jurisdiction of the Home Secretary in capital cases, as did Mr. Jacob Bright to remove the political disabilities of women; and the effects of the revived Protectionist agitation was shown in a motion made by Mr. Morley to inquire into the operation of the Commercial Treaty. The debate which followed on this motion, which was defeated, gave an opportunity to Mr. Shaw Lefevre, one of the younger members of the Administration, to distinguish himself by a speech of great ability. Indeed Mr. Lefevre, in the absence of Mr. Bright throughout the year, conducted the business of the Board of Trade, thus thrown upon his shoulders as Under-Secretary, with considerable skill and success both in the House and the Department. The introduction of a measure for the disestablishment of the Welsh Church was defeated by a large majority; and among the abortive measures of the session was one relating to a matter which, though appealing but little, unfortunately, to the personal sympathies or interest of honourable members in either House, involved one of the very gravest scandals of the day. The accumulation of appeals from the High Courts of India before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council had grown to such an extent that the arrears exceeded, probably, any thing ever known in a court of justice. As much as two years might elapse between the setting down of a cause of this kind for hearing and the hearing itself; and it followed that the arrears were rapidly multiplying themselves, the unavoidable result of this delay being to tempt unsuccessful, but wealthy, litigants, in India, to stave off a final decision against them until the last moment, by

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appealing in cases where they had no chance of success. So imperfect, at the same time, was either the constitution of the High Courts in India, or the manner in which causes were brought before them for hearing, that it was found that on mere matters of fact even, a large percentage of their judgments was during every sitting reversed by the Court of Privy Council-another encouragement to appeal. It was obvious that however the second difficulty was to be met, the arrears could soon, but only, be disposed of by a strong paid court of appeal, sitting de die in diem till the work was done, whereas the Judicial Committee consisted of unpaid judges, but for whose energy and disinterestedness no appeal would have been heard at all. One ex-Indian judge especially (Sir James Colvile) devoted himself to the work of the Judicial Committee with a perseverance and success rare indeed in an unsalaried official. Under these circumstances the attention of Government having been at last called to the matter, sufficient pressure was put upon them to induce them to introduce a Bill professedly for the remedy of this great scandal. But a Government so devoted to economy was not likely to be liberal in a matter which, though affecting most seriously the rights and interests of all the Indian subjects of her Majesty-no unimportant items in her Empireawakened such languid interest in Parliament. The Lord Chancellor was therefore instructed to introduce a Bill so inadequate in its provisions, and calculated to introduce so inferior a class of men into the Judicial Committee, that it had to be withdrawn under the unanimous disapproval of all qualified to judge of it, who held even further delay better than such an alternative. And so the Indian scandal was left to grow in magnitude with the fast accumulating arrears of unheard appeals.

On the 21st of April, a terrible tragedy occurred in Greece, which created the utmost excitement throughout this country, and for the moment superseded every other topic, to be superseded only by the yet more tremendous European tragedy which was to follow. A party of residents and tourists, comprising Lord and Lady Muncaster, Mr. Herbert, Secretary to the British Legation at Athens, Mr. F. Vyner, Count de Boyl, Secretary to the Italian Legation, Mr. Lloyd, an engineer, his wife and child, set out on the 11th of April from Athens to visit Marathon. The Greek Government reported Attica safe, but granted them an escort of six soldiers, and they were joined en route by another party of about twenty-five At about half-past four in the afternoon, while traversing a strip of forest, they were attacked by brigands, who carried the party up to Pentelicus, and ordered them to send one of their number to Athens to obtain a ransom. The brigands, who had doubtless been informed by politicians with whom they were in league of the rank of the travellers, at first fixed their ransom at 50,000., but subsequently reduced it to 25,0007.; and this amount the captives undertook to provide. At the same time distinct threats were held out that in the event of pursuit being attempted or any military

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operations being undertaken against them, the lives of the prisoners would be forfeited. The duty of proceeding to Athens fell by lot to Mr. Vyner, but he generously waived it in favour of Lord Muncaster in consideration of his wife, and his lordship and the ladies were sent back to Athens. There no difficulty was made about the money, which was at once granted by the relatives of the captives and the Italian Government. Meanwhile the news of the capture had reached England, and the necessary ransom had been provided in London. But the bandits, instigated, as seemed only too clear, by Greek statesmen in Opposition, now demanded an amnesty, as well as the ransom, their advisers' object being, it was supposed, to compel the Government to do an unconstitutional act, and then oust it. The Government, aware of this design, refused the amnesty, though it was pressed upon them by Lord Clarendon, who acted with great promptness and energy in the matter, and by Mr. Erskine, our Minister at the Court of Athens. At the same time the Greek Government solemnly and distinctly pledged themselves, as they had indeed previously done, not to move the soldiers against the brigands till the prisoners were safe. The English Minister, moreever, addressed a direct communication to the brigands, not only assuring them of this solemn engagement, but also informing them that, if they would treat the prisoners well, and descend from their vantage-ground in the mountain to a place where the prisoners might be kept in comparative comfort though in security, they should not be molested. With this request the brigands complied. The prisoners were brought down and conducted across the river Aropus to the village of Oropos, in the plain close by the sea-board, where they seem to have been made as comfortable as circumstances would allow. Then ensued various negotiations, conducted on the one hand by one Colonel Theagénis, on behalf of the Greek Government-on the other by a Mr. Noel, an Englishman resident in Eubea, who volunteered his services on behalf of the prisoners, and was believed at the time to have all but successfully accomplished their rescue. Mr. Erskine himself, courageously departing from the official reserve which might be supposed to be imposed upon him, went so far as to offer a ship of war to transfer the brigands from Greece with the ransom money if they insisted upon it. And the offer was confirmed by Lord Clarendon. Meanwhile, acting from reasons which could only be guessed, the Greek Government broke their solemn pledge, and for two or three days previous to the 20th of April they silently moved up troops in the direction of the brigands. On the 20th the brigands became aware of this, and remonstrating against it as a breach of faith, repeated in unmistakable terms that, if an attack by the military were made, they would massacre every one of the prisoners. This threat either produced no effect on the mind of Colonel Theagénis, or, if he saw the result, did not deter him. The cordon of troops was drawn tighter, and on the following day the brigands became thoroughly exasperated. Even then, it was afterwards stated by Mr. Noel, if the fatal step had not been recklessly

hurried on, and another day or two had been allowed for negotiation, no life would have been sacrificed. But the troops pressed on; and the brigands, taking alarm, crossed the river and advanced northward. Then finding themselves suddenly in the sight of troops from that quarter, they took to flight. At this conjecture there appeared on the right, on the sea-board, a Greek man-of-war-and the troops attacked and fired on the brigands, who thereupon shot Mr. Lloyd, and then dragging away the remainder of the prisoners, massacred them also one by one, Mr. Vyner being the last survivor. The terrible details of these cold-blooded murders, inexcusable by the wildest brigand-law, and happily unparalleled in modern days, even in a fiction like the "Roi des Montagnes," it is as needless as it would be painful to dwell upon. They are recorded only too fully in the newspapers of that date. The general outburst of grief and rage which the news created in England was natural, but unreasoning in its direction; and all sorts of impossible demands were made both in the country and the House for vengeance upon the brigandsvengeance upon the Greek Government and nation-vengeance quand même. It must not be forgotten, however, that the indignation and sorrow professed in Greece were almost as loud, and that the young king even made the chivalrous, if unpractical, offer to become himself a hostage for the captives, while the Greek Government afterwards proffered large compensation to their families. The first fever of indignation had in a measure subsided when the matter was formally brought forward in Parliament, in the Commons by Sir Roundell Palmer, and in the Lords by Lord Carnarvon, but in neither House was any practical conclusion arrived at as to the course to be pursued by England.

Sir Roundell Palmer began by laying down the principles which he contended were applicable to the case; and drew a distinction between the private victims of the outrage and those who had a diplomatic character, which latter he contended were by the law of nations entitled to a special and a pledged security, while the former only came under the general rule of public faith-a legal distinction the inappropriateness of which was very generally felt. He then described at length the circumstances of the outrage, dwelling on the impunity to systematic brigandage allowed by the Greek Government, the absence of all warning to the party that there was danger abroad, and the communication of the brigands with Athens after the seizure, which showed that politics were mixed up with the outrage, and that the Government of Greece was directly responsible for its miserable end, by having put legal and technical obstacles in the way of effecting their release. "We find," he said, "from the papers that there are at present in Greece two notorious bands of brigands-one called the band of Arvanitaioi, who perpetrated this outrage, and another, a distinct band, under a different leader. Whether there are more I do not know; but I cannot mention the existence of these bands without referring to what is, unhappily, too notorious to all who have paid attention to the affairs of Greece and of the East, to the fact that the system of

brigandage in Greece is no ordinary crime arising from those common causes which lead to crime in all countries of the world. It has, I fear, if not a political origin, a great deal too much of political connexion, and it has been so for a long time. There are in Greece industrious people who, if the Government would rely upon them, would look to their influence and their interests chiefly, most probably would be as capable of raising their own country to prosperity as they are of raising themselves to wealth in other lands. There is another class of Greeks, a class of military ruffians, who are always ready to invade the territory of their neighbours. They are always ready to stir up turbulence abroad, and inflame the public appetite for lawless extensions of territory, or something of that kind; and there is only too much reason to fear that these people and the banditti of whom I speak, are, and have been for many years, too intimately connected, and that persons who are at one time banditti are at other times politicians, taking an active part in such disturbances abroad as those which only too recently this country has been obliged to repress. However that may be, in the present case this is certain-there was this large and notorious band whose existence in the country or the neighbouring districts was known, and who were lying in wait for foreign tourists, American and English. They might not know of these particular travellers. Whether that be true or not, on their own showing they were for a week before lying in wait in the neighbouring mountains for foreign tourists, who at that season of the year are in the habit of visiting places celebrated throughout the world. It appears that many people about Athens knew very well that these persons were in the country, although the Government of the country at that time were supposed not to have known it." But he then showed from the papers before the House, that on the very day of the excursion, the Minister of the Interior knew there was great reason to fear that the banditti were in the neighbourhood of Marathon. "When the prisoners had fallen into the hands of the brigands, immediately there began a system of communication backwards and forwards with Athens. Mr. Herbert writes to Mr. Erskine stating that the brigands say that they could be heard of in town, having correspondents at headquarters; and they request that a proper person may be sent to treat with them. They actually themselves sent to the Prime Minister a letter, requesting that he would, without delay, send to them the ransom demanded, threatening to take the lives of the prisoners if it were not sent. The message, the Prime Minister stated to Mr. Erskine, was sent by one of the gendarmes. It is quite evident that the brigands had easy means of communication with Athens, consulted their own lawyers, and conducted their matters on a footing of independent negotiators in a way inconceivable to persons living under the ordinary laws of civilization. It is quite certain that the Government and the bandits were engaged in communications backwards and forwards, and that

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