The Portland daily press., 1866-10-09

nc AhsuTrtctAOu hh
A correspondent of the New York Nation
writing from the port of Canea In Cre'e, on
the 2Oth August gives an interesting account
of the manner in which the Insurgents hau
conducted their affair up to that date. Inc
simple integrity of these brave people, as Illus
trated by the incidents related below, 1orms
ah;n;no contrast with the ruthless atrocities OF
,uh;cb we have Just heard, on the part of the
Turks:
month now Crete has been in armed in
surrection and not a shot fired, the Greeks
having retired to their mountain Businesses
The troops dare not or cannot follow, for
through those defiles no organized body can
march and no mass of men penetrate against
the resistance of men armed with stones alone.
1t is most curious spectacle to see the whole
power of an empire directed in vain against
these 10000 badly armed and utterly unorgan-
lied Cretans. 1t recalls the days of Thermopy-
lac. And the more see of the Cretans, the
more regard them as true representatives OF
the ancient Greeks. They have up in their
mountains a central committee" OF the chief
men of the island, countrymen, peasants, IKE
all the rest, many of whom cannot even sign
| their names to their manifestoes and yet they
govern with an absolute and severe Justice the
whole insurgent population, control tnem
completely, resist all the intrigues OF the Gov
ernment and all efforts to produce discord
1
dom Of antique excellence receive and reply to
| the envoys of the government, which has, SO
| far, not gained point on them
In all the territory which they control not an
egg has been stolen, not wrong committed 70
any one Twice, when detachments OF sol
| diers have been carelessly led completely into
| their power, a single deputy has been able to
restrain the people, burning to strike; and all
| this while the Turkish troops have ravaged and
| laid waste their vineyards, killed their HOcks,
| vin1afQd thar tn ariaS and DESTROYED all
that was destructible in them. An lnsurrec-
| ton here is matter of religioni tits Christian
| against Turk: and yet, while the troops have
| driven the entire population from many VII
lages and destroyed hundreds, perhaps, of vine
| Yards and gardens not a Turk has been harm
ed from one end OF the island to the other In
the town of Gambia the Turks from the coun-
try have driven the Greeks from their own
houses and entered into occupation, and the
| whole population has fled; while in the coun-
| try even the abandoned estates of the Turks
are protected. Once, before the hostile move
ment of troops as the committee were in un-
armed session, there came to the place of as
sembly Turk with barrel of wine, as ped
dlers Of small beer to New England general
training, doubtless with hope of many piastres
from the several thousand Cretans there as
| sembled; but the committee put bar on his
selling wine. The poor man pleaded expenses
| and loss, ETC., ETC., and finally was allowed to
sell on condition that he made himself respon-
| sible, by written agreement for all the injury
which might result from his wine-selling. On
| deliberatiOn he declined and retired, his cask
unbroached. About the same time the gov
| ernOr sent a message to the committee by a
| Cretan captain, a partisan of his, who, being
received, heard and dismissed with their reply,
| a Cretan of the common mass accOsted him as
he went away with reproaches of his dislOyal-
| ty and spat in his face. He was instantly ar
rested and imprisoned by the committee. And
the sequel of this affair, by the way, bears an
other moral. Some days after, the aggressive
Cretan was stabbed dead by the son of the in
suited captain; and when, after considerable
delay, the people saw that the governor had no
intention of doing justice on the murderer,
and some of the dead mans kinsmen (he was
OF the Sphakiot race, with whom the vendet-
ia still obtains) repaired to the village of the
murderer to put him to punishment accord
ing to their usage, the pasha sent troops to
protect him and his house. The calves of a
| Turkish boy, resident not far from the place OF
| meeting, having gone astray, the whole police
| force OF the committee was employed in hunt
| ing them out and returning them, lest it should
/ be said that some of the Cretans attendant on
| the committee had stolen them.
There is a characteristic of the Cretans which
have never met elsewhere-their system of
chieftainship. Each village elects a captain,
\ and if, as sometimes happens the pasha inter-
who is not liked By ffhsstsn fhs in ayer Of
other, whom they obey, and to whom they look
for guidance in any unusual political exgency.
| hO 10 huoWH dS Iuc pcopio CdpGdlu, anu Tie
other as the pasha's captain. But these cap
tains, though, while holding office, possessed
of all the influence of the chiefs of Homer's
day, are ruthlessly deposed on the next elec-
tion if they are found unworthy. When, two
years ago, they attempted movement to OBJ
| tain justice, the pasha succeeded in cOrrupting
a number of the captains (chosen for peacea-
BILE times), and the movement failed by the
| counter influence of the corrupt Chiefs This
year they are all true and tried men, and the
pasha has not succeeded ESQ far as known) in
gaining any of them. They elected as presi-
dent a certain KOstarOs, one of the wealthiest
and most influential men in the island, and a
deputy. He declined, saying, ave are all
equal, and we will remain so, working to-
gether" a.t 4a
Some of the circulars of the committee to
the consuls have been dignifed and noble po-
litical papers, and many have appeared, through
| the trayesty of French translations, in our pa
/ pers; and late letter to our President will be
found touching and effective expose of the
griefs of nation.
Now, at length, the delaying diplomacy of
Europe-bound in honor to see justice done to
Crete-begins to act, and a0e begin to hope
| that right may come in the white robe of peace,
| and the loveliest island of the Old World be
spared the ruin and carnage which, only gen.
| sent a tenth into exile. Never was a crueller
crime than that by which diplomacy-at the
| end of that cruel war in which, after suffer-
| ings and endurance inconceivable to us, the
Cretans had conquered their country and held
all but three strong fortresses-passed them,
| tied hand and foot, back to their humliated
| and conquered former masters. Injustice such
as that breeds ever tragedies such as this which
now shakes Crete.