TRANSLATION OF AN ADDRESS TO THE EUROPEAN CONSULS OF THE CHRISTIAN DEPUTIES, ASSEMBLED UNDER THE NAME OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF CRETANS, SITTING AT PROSNERO, CANTON OF APOCORONA. MM. LES CONSULS: The Representatives of the Christian people of the Isle of Crete, respectfully undersigned, assembled under the title of the Assembly General of the Cretans, feel it our imperative duty to call you to bear witness to the violence which obliges us, in spite of our wishes to the contrary, to take up arms by right of lawful defence. Greeks by origin and by tongue, having taken part in the struggle borne by our brothers in 1821 for our national independence, but yet not having profited by the advantages of that war, our only object in assembling here is to claim the enjoyment of the rights which were guaranteed to us by the three Protecting Powers by Treaties and Protocols, and of those which His Imperial Majesty the Sultan deigned spontaneously to decree to us by a Hatti-Humayoun. But the Governor-General, changing the meaning and the point of our humble petition, by which we claimed pacifically, and without resorting to arms, the execution of written promises, after leaving us for three months in a state of uncertainty, finally incited the Porte to return an unfavorable and menacing answer, and, opposing violence to right, he appeared before us in arms. Calling the Representatives of the protecting and guaranteeing Powers to bear witness to this, we take up arms for our defence and safety, and we make the Turkish Government responsible before the civilized world for all the consequences of the struggle which is about to break out. Done at Prosneron, July 20-21, 1866. The humble Representatives of the Christian People of the Isle of Crete. (Here follow the signatures of 46 Deputies.) [Extract.] LORD LYONS TO LORD STANLEY.--(Received September 7.) CONSTANTINOPLE, August 28, 1866. I had, on the 25th instant, the honor to receive your Lordship's despatches respecting the affairs of Crete, of the 13th instant. Yesterday, in obedience to your Lordship's instructions, I informed A'ali Pasha that Her Majesty's Government strongly advise the Porte to deal with the Cretans with the utmost forbearance and in a conciliatory spirit, to redress any grievances of which they may have cause to complain, to relieve them from any exceptional treatment which bears hard upon them, and generally to study to reconcile them to the Sultan's Government. I added, that Her Majesty's Government conceive that in the present state of the Continent of Europe, it would be a great misfortune to Turkey if any question were to arise which should excite the sympathies of Europe in favor of the resistance of Christian subjects of the Sultan to the Ottoman Government, and that it is manifestly most important to the interests of the Porte that the Provincial authorities should be enjoined to act justly and in a kindly spirit towards the Christians.