letter professedly with that object, but without effect. The disorder
increased, and numerous outrages were committed. Seven soldiers were
murdered whilst cutting wood about four miles from Metokhia; Ali Pacha's
aide-de-camp and five soldiers were cut to pieces between

Niksich and Krustach, and seven other Mussulmans were killed. Still the
Turks hesitated to act with severity. They appealed again to the
deputies, who wrote another letter, which, as the bearers of it
affirmed, only enraged the rebels, who tore it, and trod it under foot.
But this affords little proof of the intensity of their feelings, as it
has since transpired that an arrangement had been made by the deputies
that all letters written voluntarily and in sincerity should bear a
private mark; and the letter in question was not so distinguished. Upon
the discovery of their treachery the deputies were imprisoned, and
energetic measures at once resolved upon. To give these effect, Ali
Pacha advanced at the head of a small force, and summoned the rebels to
surrender. They replied by firing on the advanced guard. The three
villages were then taken, and five men and two women killed, while a few
prisoners were made. These last were released, but one died in prison.
Such is the story told of the affair by Dervisch Pacha.

It does not appear that Ali Pacha acquired any great credit by his
method of conducting the operations. Quitting a strong position in the
afternoon, he arrived at the villages to be attacked after nightfall.
Having fired them, he was compelled to make a precipitate retreat, which
might have been most disastrous, had he been opposed to an enterprising
enemy.

With reference to the discrepancy manifested in the two accounts, we may
feel assured that both are highly coloured. But the deception resorted
to by the rebels, and the simple explanation given by the Turkish
officials, would tend to impart to their story the greater appearance of
truth. Had the Turks, moreover, wished to avenge the deaths of their
soldiers, or to vent their hatred of the Christians, they would have
maltreated the people of the first villages at which they arrived, in
place of marching seven miles through a difficult country to the borders
of a district which had for two years defied their efforts at reduction.

The implication of the villagers in the numerous murders which had
occurred was proved by the discovery of some of the Turkish bayonets at
Beronschitzi, while