The ruse succeeded to my best hopes, and thenceforward the irritated Frenchman sought every opportunity to punish the illustrious renegade, and his activity resulted in the following despatch, sent while Omar was still engaged in the Sphakian raid: [J] A promise which Omar kept by violating and keeping on his ship as his mistress the most beautiful of the young girls who surrendered. (Translation.) CANEA, July 21, 1867. M. LE CHARGÉ D'AFFAIRES: The situation grows daily worse. I have had the honor of notifying to you the deplorable excesses which have been committed in the district of Kissamos; to-day I learn that massacres have broken out in the eastern part of the country. For the last month, isolated murders took place daily in the neighborhood of the town of Candia; the native Mussulmans overran the country and abandoned themselves to the saddest iniquities in the Christian villages. These barbarous expeditions over, they would return to the town, and the gates opened before them to give passage to their bloody trophies. I had made strong complaints to the local authorities, but all my representations had remained without effect. Emboldened by impunity, the bashi-bazouks on the 12th and 13th of this month spread themselves over the district of Rhizo and massacred women and children. To revenge themselves, the insurgents carried off a young Turkish girl and killed her father. The Canadian Government, which has for a long time forbidden Christians to enter the town, doubtless counted upon these atrocities remaining buried in silence. They let them go on, and the irregulars could glut their ferocity entirely as they pleased. On the 17th, they invaded the villages of Huméri, Alcolohuri, Aghias Paraskevi, Shilus, and a great number of the villages of the district of Pediada, murdering the peaceable and defenceless villagers, old men, women, and children. The consular agents of Candia unite, and wish to send their dragomans to the places; but the Governor opposes this, and the carnage continues. These sad tidings have deeply moved the consular body. As soon as I had been informed of them I went to the Imperial Commissioner, whom I found, I must say, deeply afflicted, but overwhelmed with the feeling of his impotence. He no longer attempts to deny the evil, but he feels himself incapable of staying its progress. From all parts of the island the most sinister reports reach us. Women and children wander along the shore, dying of hunger and exposed to the most horrible treatment. I am in a position to inform you, M. le Chargé d'Affaires, that three young Turkish officers, witnesses of the barbarities which have taken place at Kissamos, have given in their resignation, to avoid presiding over such butcheries.