sufficiency of the sentences, which I had not failed to represent to the Porte, seems to be fully admitted. My French and German colleagues received instructions from their Governments to insist that the sentences should be annulled, and experienced no difficulty in obtaining from the Porte a promise that the case should be transferred, and reheard here in the presence of their Delegates, who have consequently been summoned from Salonica. It is usual, and is regarded as a right upon which we have always insisted, that the trial of persons accused of being implicated in the death of a British subject should take place in the presence of a dragoman of the Embassy or Consulate, and it will probably be advisable that this course shall be followed on the present occasion when the three Embassies will be on the same footing, without risk, it may be hoped, of misunderstanding among their Delegates. The Earl of Derby. HENRY ELLIOT. (Inclosure.)-Consul Blunt to Sir H. Elliot. (Telegraphic.) Salonica, June 10, 1876. ACCORDING to evidence it seems to me that observation of officer that girl should be restored did not apply to execution of orders received from Governor-General, and, according to Italian Consul's opinion, was made in answer to his request to take troops to mosque, and seems to him was inspired by emergency of the moment. Officers were not found smoking, but French Acting Consul deposed having seen some of their troops doing so. The detention of marines 30 minutes at fortress after they were landed is not considered by Court an act of disobedience, but negligence. No. 75.-Sir H. Elliot to the Earl of Derby.--(Received June 30.) (Extract.) Therapia, June 19, 1876. THE French Ambassador called upon me yesterday and asked whether I would join him and the German Ambassador in a representation they were going to make to the Porte demanding that in the fresh trial to be held upon the officers implicated in the Salonica tragedy, the depositions taken at the first trial before the Commissioner and in the presence of the Delegates should be held sufficient without reopening the case from the beginning. I said I was quite ready to make a similar representation, but at the same time I told my colleague that if it should turn out that the accused had a legal right to have their witnesses heard before the new Court, I should be unable to insist upon their being deprived of it. The Earl of Derby. HENRY ELLIOT. SIR, No. 76.-Consul Blunt to Sir H. Elliot. Salonica, June 18, 1876. I HAVE only time, owing to the early departure of the mail, to forward, herewith inclosed, a translated statement, with an abridged list, relative to the conviction of the individuals who have been directly or indirectly implicated in the murder of the French and German Consuls at Salonica on Saturday, the 6th of May, 1876. I should report that the proceedings during the trial of the culprits were conducted with forbearance, dignity, and coolness, and in an impartial manner, by the Imperial Commissioners, Eshref Pasha and Vahan Effendi; and I am bound to say that both Commissioners have allowed to the foreign Delegates who attended the inquiry the utmost latitude compatible with the Turkish law and the Capitulations. I also inclose a plan of the konak, and of the mosque where the two Consuls were murdered. I have, &c., Sir H. Elliot. J. E. BLUNT. (Inclosure 1.)—Statement relative to Convictions of 35 Individuals implicated in Murder of French and German Consuls. (Inclosure 2.)-Names of the Individuals who have been condemned by the Imperial Commission for being directly or indirectly implicated in the Murder of the French and German Consuls at Salonica, on the 6th of May, 1876. Condemned to death, 12. (The first six named on the list were publicly executed on Tuesday, the 16th May, 1876, at 5 P.M., in presence of Eshref Pasha, Imperial Commissioner, the French and German Delegates, and the British Consul.) Condemned to prison for life, with hard labour, 3. Condemned to prison for 10 years, with hard labour, 2. Condemned to prison for 5 years, with hard labour, 11. Condemned to prison for 3 years with hard labour, 4. Condemned to prison for 1 month, 1. Salib, a boy of 11 years of age, was whipped for stealing the watch of the German Consul after he was murdered. In all, 35 culprits. (Extract.) No. 77.-Consul Blunt to Sir H. Elliot. Salonica, June 20, 1876. IN continuation of my Report of the 18th instant, relative to the proceedings of the Imperial Commission of Inquiry into the murders of the French and German Consuls at Salonica, I have the honour to inclose herewith the translations of the preliminary depositions of Selim Bey, ex-Colonel of Salonica Police, and of two of his subordinate officers. I also inclose translated copies of the evidence of the Arab woman, Rushen; of the Bulgarian girl, Stephana; and of her mother, Mario; as well as translated copies of the evidence which was taken at the village Bogdantza, by a Commission sent there at my suggestion by the Imperial Commissioners, for the purpose of inquiring into the alleged connection of Emin Effendi, Member of the Local Medjliss, with the conversion of the Bulgarian girl, Stephana. I very much regret that I have not been able to procure, for transmission to your Excellency, copies of all the evidence which has been taken by the Imperial Commission, bearing on the murder of the Consuls. It is, of course, very voluminous, and the clerks of the Court had no time to prepare copies for me before their return to Constantinople. They told me that the Porte would furnish them if applied for by Her Majesty's Embassy. The details of the facts which have been elicited by the inquiry respecting the murder of the Consuls, as well as all the circumstances bearing on the conversion and subsequent violent seizure by the Christians of the Bulgarian girl, prove that the Greeks and Bulgarians were the primary cause of the outbreak; that their assault of the police and their violent seizure of the girl, in a public and aggravating manner, offended the religious and political susceptibilities of the Mahomedans; that, in short, the fanatic zeal of the former excited the fanatic fury of the latter, and directed it to one object, the restoration of the girl to the authorities. Had the girl been restored at once, in answer to the Governor's summons, there would have been no bloodshed; and it is a very significant fact that immediately the mob saw the girl in the possession of my cavass, and were satisfied that she was placed in charge of the Pasha, they dispersed without making any further disturbances. While the Mahomedans in this city have had no deliberate intention or desire to attack the Christians, still their feelings for some time past were becoming excited and agitated from various causes, of which I may mention the following as the most active: the long duration of the insurrection in the Herzegovina, and the impunity with which Montenegro and Servia encourage and assist the insurgents; the growing unpopularity of the late Sultan; the policy of his Grand Vizier, Mahmoud Pasha; and the mutual suspicions and alarms engendered among the inhabitants by vague rumours of fanatical outbreaks, which were industriously circulated by evil-intentioned persons. It is not difficult, therefore, to imagine how a people whose minds have been worked into an abnormal state of agitation took offence and burst into violent action when they felt that their religious sentiments and prejudices had been publicly slighted and dishonoured. In making the above few remarks my only object was to endeavour to explain the causes which produced this Mahomedan outbreak. I do not in the least attempt to attenuate the horrible results which accompanied it, or to lessen the culpability of the exGovernor-General and his subordinates for not taking active and efficient measures to disperse the mob and protect the lives of the Consuls. Sir H. Elliot. J. E. BLUNT. (Inclosure.)-Plan of the Governor's House, and of the Mosque in which the French and German Consuls were murdered. No. 79.-Sir H. Elliot to the Earl of Derby.-(Received July 14.) CORRESPONDENCE respecting the Bombardment of the SIR, Mr. Williamson to Mr. Fish. United States' Legation in Central America, Guatemala, October 6, 1873. I HAVE the honour to inclose herewith the correspondence between the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and myself in regard to the report of the Consul at Guatemala about the actions of the General Sherman, and the bombardment of Omoa by the British man-of-war Х Niobe. It is proper for me to mention that the report is but a written declaration of the verbal statement made to me by the said Consul at the President's house, at the invitation of the President and in the presence of the chief members of his Cabinet. At my suggestion it was reduced to writing. The British Minister, Mr. Edwin Corbett, also did me the honour to read to me the report made to him by a Mr. Bain, who was acting as Vice-Consul of Her Britannic Majesty at Omoa at the time of the occurrences referred to. The two statements correspond as to the conduct of the Sherman, and do not, in my judgment, vary materially as to the bombardment, except that in the British statement very great prominence is given to the sacking of Omoa and insult to the British flag, and trespass upon the (so-called) British soil of the Island of Zapodilla, when the authorities of Honduras (General Straeber commanding) captured the Spanish and Portuguese Consuls there. In the absence of any report from our own Consul at Omoa, Mr. Chas. R. Follin, I have had to rely upon their statements in order to make up au opinion on the subject. I wrote to Mr. Follin, but presuming that he lived at one or the other of the ports to which he is nominated as Consul, I addressed my letter wrong. It seems he does not reside at Omoa or Truxillo, but a little village opposite the village of Puerto Cadballo. Hoping that it may not be considered improper, but, on the contrary, perfectly proper, that I should give you my opinion, I beg leave to say that I am compelled to believe the captain of the Sherman has unjustifiably and outrageously abused the flag of our country, and also that General Straeber's conduct in the sacking of Omoa and pillaging (or allowing to be pillaged) the British Consulate was disgraceful, to say nothing of his barbarity in firing upon a party from the General Sherman, which, under a flag of truce, approached the fortress of Omoa to accept its delivery according to previous arrangement with the treacherous fellow who was in command. This fellow's name I have been unable to learn. Whether the said party was composed of filibusters or not does not alter the barbarity of slaughtering in cold blood human beings who had a right to believe they were protected by a white flag, and who, relying upon the sanctity given by such protection among civilised nations, placed themselves at the mercy of their slayers. I also venture to recommend that the General Sherman be seized. Is she not a pirate? If the reports about her repeated changes of flag be true, and she is an armed vessel of a private person, General Palacios, or any of his confederates, and is being used for hostile purposes against peaceful States, would she not be rightfully classed among those piratical vessels in the possession of a crew and acknowledging obedience to no flag whatever, but, in defiance of all law, levying war for purposes of |