The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1866-12-24

q a II NA
o. Greek HeroIs0 Revived In Candias
!. Oar Athens correspondent has given, In
letter published yesterday, the details Of the
lighting and indisoriminate slaughter Of Turks
and Greek Christians ss the convent Of Arcs-
dion. This convent, which Is situated in .
strong position in the department. Of Rsthym-
nos, was occupied by Eve bundled and forty
persons, three hundred and forty-tbree Of whom
were women and children, leaving one hun
dred and ninety seven men capable Of bearing
arms. On the 10th Of November Mustapha
Pacha Left his headquarters at Episcopi, with
twelve thousand men, and advanced upon the
convent, demanding the surrender Of the garri-
son. The refusal Of the Cretans was followed
by tremendous fire from the Turkish artillery,
and the bombardment was kept up for two
days and nights. At length, q breach having
been effected, the Turks, who had suffered
heavy losses, poured into the court Of. the con-
vent. Barricading themselvesin the surround
ing cells the Christians bravely resisted for six
hours, and then desperately resolved to FIRE the
powder magazine A monk applied the match,
and tremendous explosion killed two thou
sand Turks on the spot, wounding large num-
bsrs besides, and destroying all the Christians
except thirty-nine men and about sixty women
and children. The latter were taken prisoners
and carried or to Rethymnos. Among up
wards Of . thousand wounded Turks was
brother-in-law Of Mustapha Pacha. The Turk
ish army is reported to have been sorely dis
pirited by the disaster. ~
This incident in the Canadian revolution
should, on the other hand. encourage the
Cretans and enlist in their behalf the sympa-
thies Of the whole Christian world. 1t reveals
the fact that the old heroic spirit still survivess
to which, according to Herodotus, the Greek
Demaratus bore testimony when asked by
Xerxes, after the latter had surveyed the i'm
mense hosts wherewith he was about to invade
Greece by land and sea, whether the Greeks
would presume to resist his power. "You
may depend upon it, replied Demaratus,
'sthat your propositions which threaten Greece
with servitude will be rejected, and if all the
other Greeks side with you against them, the
Lacedemonians will engage you in battle.
Make no inquiries as to their number; for If
lucy budll uivc Jul q tuOu5auu ucu, VI CVcu
fewer, they will fight you.n The same spirit
animated Leonidas, Of whom Plutarch relates
that when asked how he dared to encounter so
prodigious multitude as composed the army
of Xerxes with SO few men he replied:-"If
you reckon by numbers, all Greece is not able
10 oppose small part Of that army; but if by
courage, the number I have with mo is sum
cient" This was the spirit which fired Leo
midas and his three hundred Spartans when
they defended the pass of Thermopyle and
immortalized its name. All are familiar with
the numerous instances in which this spirit
again broke forth gloriously during the seven
years struggle Of modern Greece against
Turkish oppression. From 1921 until the battle
ofNavarino, in 1897, when the Tarco-E Egyptian
feet was annihlated by the combined squad
rons of England, France and Russia, this re-
markable contest was carried on by the Turks
with such atrocious barbarity and by the
Greeks with such heroic bravery as to engage
the sympathy and the active interference of all
Christian nations 1t is a shame that sym
pathy and interference should be withheld from
the Cretans who are now displaying the same
heroism in struggling against the same tyranny.
A remonstrance ct least should be made at
once by the United States governmcnt-now
far more emphatically than in 1921, one Of tho
great Powers Of the earth-against Turkish
cruelties and ravages in Gambia, which pain
fully remind us Of the blood shed at Constan
tinople, the execution Of the patriarch, the
massacres of. Scio, and the other horrible
scenes Of the Greek revolution. The univc rsal
feeling swaked in America ct that time was
eloquently expressed by Webster, Clay and
Everett, and in memorable verse by Fitz
Greene Halleck. We are glad TO learn that
DR.. Howe, of Boston, who, like Lord Byron,
devoted himself personally to the Hellenic
cause, has set on foot project for the imms-
diate relief of sufferers in the Canadian revolu-
ton.