Mr. Tuckerman to Mr. Seward.
Sir: The budget for 1868 has just been presented to the national chamber. The revenue is estimated at 33,508,000 drachmas—say $5,500,000—being an excess of 1,215,665 over that of last year, owing to the prospect of abundant crops and increased revenue from imports. The public expenditure is estimated at 34,047,986, being in excess of the expenditure of last year 3,410,516. It is not improbable, in view of additional appropriations for extraordinary purposes, that the public expenditure will fully reach, if indeed it does not exceed, 39,000,000 drachmas. I shall, on a future occasion endeavor to give you a comprehensive statement of the financial condition of this kingdom; as no recent official statements have been made, I must await the promised report of the minister of finance.
The Grand Duchess Alexandra Joséfoona, the mother of the Queen of Greece, accompanied by her son, the Grand Duke Nicholas, are at present the guests of her Majesty. The imperial party was joined for a few days by the Grand Duke Alexis, third son of the Emperor of Russia. A series of fêtes has been given to the duchess and her family since their arrival, and the diplomatic corps has been formally presented to the distinguished visitors. On this occasion the grand duchess expressed to me her strong feelings of interest in the United States, and, adverting to the reception of our naval officers at St. Petersburg, hoped that we were satisfied with the hospitalities which had been extended by the government of Russia to these officials; to which I suitably responded.
In a previous dispatch I called your attention to the promising condition of the olive crop in the island of Candia, and suggested that it [Page 129] might affect the duration of the struggle for nationality. An end, however, has been put to any questions of this nature, by the acts of the Turkish soldiers, who, according to a report from Mr. Stillinan, recently received by me, “have ventured on a course of devastation, which since Omer Pasha’s time has been disavowed. Olive trees are destroyed by wholesale, and the loss is not that of the insurgents only, but of the island and the rich proprietors, who, as a general thing, have been averse to the movement.” The Turkish government in Crete have ordered all Cretans who have families in Greece to bring them back, under pain of confiscation. I am not of opinion that this measure will have much effect upon the refugees here, who are disposed to remain while the government and relief committees continue to support them. A few families have, however, within a fortnight returned to Crete under the auspices, as he himself informs me, of Photiades Bey, the Turkish minister at Athens. A good deal of disease exists at present among the insurgents in Crete which relaxes the strength of the warfare. I append the copy of a petition which a portion of the insurgent military chiefs have recently addressed to Queen Victoria, but which others of the “general assembly of Cretans” are said to have disapproved of, as being a confession of weakness “unworthy a valiant people struggling for the right of self-government,” and which virtually places them “at the mercy of Great Britain.”
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.