The Vali accordingly appointed the precious Commission, already spoken of, to confer with the Christians on their grievances; and at the same time gave the refugees in Montenegro a safe-conduct to their homes. By these means the Vali secured the double object of revenging himself on the Christian refugees, and throwing dust into the eyes of the consular body. The refugees, on attempting to return, were, in spite of their safe-conduct, fired on by Turkish troops; and when at last some of them succeeded in finding their way to Nevešinje, the Turkish authorities permitted Mussulmans of the village to murder several without moving a finger to punish the assassins! The results of the Commission were so falsified as to make it appear that the whole agitation among the rayahs was fictitious, and the outrages committed during the last three months by tax-farmers and Zaptiehs, the sack of whole villages, the assassination of men, the violation of women, were, forsooth, reduced to ‘antiquated grievances raked up by self-constituted grief-mongers.’ This might do all very well, so the Vali thought, for the consular body; but he was well aware that other tactics were necessary in order to allay the dangerous spirit aroused among the rayah population. The shooting of the refugees was due, he explained, to a ‘misunderstanding.’ The Christians were to be convinced of the reality of the Commission. The Turkish government even consented to place among its members the envoy of the Prince of Montenegro. The real information received by the Commission was very different from that which the Vali vouchsafed to our Consul. The grievances of the Herzegovinians generally, as against the government, are well set forth in the seven demands which the people of Nevešinje laid before the Commission. They form an interesting commentary on the Turkish rule in the Herzegovina, and savour neither of Panslavism nor of disloyalty to the Sultan. The demands of the men of Nevešinje were as follows:— 1. That Christian girls and women should no longer be molested by the Turks. 2. That their churches should no longer be desecrated, and that free exercise of their religion should be accorded them. 3. That they should have equal rights with the Turks before the law. 4. That they should be protected from the violence of the Zaptiehs. 5. That the tithe-farmers should take no more than they were legally entitled to, and that they should take it at the proper time. 6. That every house should pay in all only one ducat a year. 7. That no forced labour, either personal or by horses, should be demanded by the government; but that labour, when needed, should be paid for, as was the case all over the world.