There is one effort in which the Sultan's Government is
successful, and that is in concealing facts from Western Europe. Unless British Consuls are on the spot we never hear the exact facts from any corner of the Empire, and frequently not even then. Even in Crete, which is supposed to be European and civilised, it is most difficult to ascertain details. According to the Porte, order has been completely re-established in Crete, but according to Greeks the Christian villages are being burned, the Christians who resist are killed, and the Christian population in the rural districts is flying, penniless, foodless, and panic-stricken, to the hills. The evidence of independent outsiders proves the burnings on the coast, but the stories from the interior are as yet only violent probabilities. There seems to be no doubt, however, that the Christians expect, that the European Governments fear, and that the Mnssulmans hope for, a general outbreak of murder.
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