comported themselves in an entirely unoffensive manner and showed no intention of going beyond the object for which they had met, the Pasha had no pretext for the employment of force. Mr. Colucci, the Italian consul, then stated that he had received information that the committee had expressed their willingness to disperse on receiving the assurance that the signers of the petition should not be persecuted by the Pasha, and that he considered that the Governor owed this assurance, since he and all others admitted that the Assembly and committee had so far committed no illegal act. His Excellency dodged the suggestion, and, rising, was about to dismiss the conference, when, seeing that all was on the point of being won to the arbitrary course of the Pasha, I begged to offer my protest against any implied endorsement on my part of the proposed violence, as, until the assurance of immunity had been given the Cretans, the peaceful expedients for assuring tranquillity had not been exhausted, or need for employment of force arisen. The Italian, Russian, and other consuls followed me in protest. The Pasha, disconcerted, sat down again, and the discussion was renewed. His Excellency hesitated, but Derché came to his relief with reasons for his not according the immunity asked, saying that the Pasha had no right to compromise the intentions of his government. I replied that there was no question of Constantinople in the matter. The Cretans had confidence in the good-will of the Sultan, but not in his Excellency. Mr. Dickson was of opinion that the assurance was already implied in the Pasha's promise to support the petition with the Porte, and that, as the Assembly had committed no act to deserve persecution, it could not be supposed that they would be subjected to it. He therefore regarded the assurance as uncalled for. Six consuls were against the Pasha, and two with him, but he took M. Derché's clue, and stood firm on the ground which that led him to, and so the conference ended. [C] Levantine is a term applied to people of foreign ancestry born in Turkey and brought up there. With few exceptions, they are the most corrupt, venal, and morally degraded class of the population of the Turkish empire. They furnish all the legation and consular dragomans, a class whose corruptibility has passed into a maxim.