NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THERE is no pause in the rush of sensational news. As if the Czar's Encyclical, the taking of Khartoum, the resig- nation of M. Cavaignac, and the Anglo-German understanding were not enough to keep the public mind occupied, there comes the massacre of native Christians and British soldiers at Candia,—an incident of so serious a character that it is bound to raise the whole Cretan problem. On Tuesday, acting under orders, Colonel Reid, accompanied by a mixed detach- ment of soldiers and bluejackets, proceeded to the Office of the Dime at Candia [i.e., tithe-tax office] in order to take it over. While doing so two of his men were stabbed, and at once a desperate attack was made on the British force, who, to use their commander's own words, had to engage in a "desperate fight, like rats in a trap." The men and officers fought with splendid pluck and endurance for several hours in an apparently hopeless position. Ultimately, however, they were able to get to the sea, but the loss was terrible,—twelve men killed and forty wounded out of a force of not much over sixty. At the same time the British camp was attacked and a general massacre of Christians, joined with pillage, began in the town. The British Consulate was burnt, and in it the British Vice-Consul, a man over eighty. Over eight hundred Christians were killed.
