Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1867-08-22

LAND OF CRETE THEIR CONDITION AND |
TREATMENT AT THE HANDS OF THE TURKS
From recent letter of DIR. Samuel G. |
Howe, of Boston, who is now in Greece, dis
tributing the supplies sent from this country
for the Cretan refugees, we extract as much
as our space will permit Comment upon
such a condition Of things would be super
fiuous, and we leave the statements to speak
for themselves He SAYS asl4 slA '3tt
T. At the outbreak Of the revolt, all who
could get away from Crete did so, and pro-
badly about 1000 About $4,000 are in
Greece proper Ofthcse about 5000 pick up
a scanty livelihood by their own efforts, while
8, 400 are registered and received from the
several committees a daily pittancc or 40
leptas for adults and 20 leptas for children,
which will barely buy bread sufficient to
support life. But yesterday an industrious
and self-supporting peasantry, these latter
are to-day houseless and ragged dependents.
/ They live huddled together in barracks, In
public buildings, in stables, in poor novels
They sit and sleep upon the floor, for lack
of furniture and they wait in idleness for
some news which will enable them to go
back to their native island. Such is the con-
/ tlition of the Cretans who have fled hithcr.
Il The second division Of the refugees con
4 ssts OF those who, having fled from their
burning villages, took refugein the fortified
towns upon the island from the fury of the
n BAIL -Bazouks, OF native irrcgulars OF the
Turkish army.
There are 1000 in Mcgalo-C Castro, 1000 In
Canea, 800 in Retymo, and about 1000 in
| G,,.ta MI least X t1lll in
ALL As the native Turks who had been
driven in from the interior naturally seized
upon tho houses abandoned by their own
5 crs, who had fled from the island, these
5 Greek refugees are louseless, penniess, hall
, clad, and.h fed. They live in the church
, es, school-houscs, and abandoned buildings
in state OF squalor destitution, and wretch
edness, and in constant terror for their lives,
! ansi Tor the honor of their daughters. IL
Magalo Castro there are $50 women ano
4 children in the house of the Greek Consul
9 The Turks allow to each an oke III pounds
: of poor flour week, hardly enough to sup
: port life; while 10 their own soldiers they
y give large rations of bread, rs drachms o
4 meat, with butter, oil, onions, salt and to
# bacco. f 4sy
The third division is composed of thos'
is who have fled from their burned villages Z
% the mountains. Their number is variousl,
q estimated from III, 900 to $4,000. After tn
y failure of Mehemet Pacha's comparativel,
" mild mode of warfare, the fertile brain
Z his successor, Omar Pacha, devised plan
;e and his iron hand is now executing it, b.
y which the pressure of war is brought to bea
+ upon non-combatants. A vigorous blockad
N has converted the whole island into a vas
~ prison-house, in which fortunes of yariou
"a kinds are systematically applied upon q
he immense scale, and upon the whole popula
" ton of insurgent districts. The thumb
to screws are steadily frightened, SO that til
OF agonizing cries of their women and childre
US may lead the men to submit.
nv ny Disciplined armies, preceded by fanat
III and ferocious irregulars, devastate the ope
n country, burn the houses destroy the crop
se cut down the trees, tear up the vines, ar
nr leave no living and no green thing benin
them. The wretchcd fugatives who escape
arc with their lives from their burning yillag
in now stand upon the shores and the mou
of tain sides and stretch out their hands to u
ny Christian world Tor means of escape. b
IT. hind them is Il foe more dreaded than dealt
ed around them barren rocks; before them u
nd sea, so closely blockaded that one cam
,nr even fish from the shore. They have
mt houses, and the caverns are not large enou
Of to shelter them all. They have not clothi
sc. enough, not even rags enough to cover tn.
llhlAcuntSs, Su ltlAt IllOuesb llihn avn
looking at young women and maidei
They have not food enough for their lit
, ones, who cling around their mothers liml
:. and almost gnaw them in the agony of Ii,
ger. Famine has been regarded as one
Ike those awful Instruments by which the !
tho mighty work his mysterious will. The @
-. el laws of war tolerate its usage agai
his garrisons and armies; but must a reneg'
his Pacha be permitted to WELD it in Euro
and against a whole Christian people? At
trePort OF suPPlies having reached cert
n, spot, multitudes came forth from their
'ilh ing places, bareheaded, barefooted, and |
ne naked, to get a share. AT the report tha
pel vessel is off the coast, multitude swa
;clo toward the landing, to get on board.
=, II is cruel mockery to say, "Let them s
we'll nit" Their fathers tried submission, ,
}, at they themselves know by experience W
pa humiliation and outrages await those VIII
re- lives are spared, and who again bow to
rive Turkish yoke. have heard mothers v
ers. are now suffering extreme want declare "
title a shudder that they would rather see Il
re- children die around them than be put ]
hers the power Of cnraged Turks.
be- The evidence of common cruclties, s.
e of as torture, manning, and killing, is so alb
ully dant that those who seek for more, in OF
ipal to believe, are in the condition of him ,
D to would not believe when one rose from
,ols. dead. But the Turks like TO make prisol
hers of boys, girls, and women and their tr
mes ment is often so internal, and so unnatu
But that one can hardly find comprehens
with language in which 10 speak of it. The
they plorable truth is that the social condi
rfec- and institutions OF the Turks have dcvelo
from mOnstrous passions, and the moral stant
ly in among them is so low that crimes whic
and old called down fire from Heaven now C,
ity." no indignation, nor even surprise.
ace" Government cannot, if 1t would, rest
pos such monsters. Hundreds of Cretan m
from ers have solomnly, and with unmistak
ID Of simplicity, assured me that what causes !
1t be and all the women they know TO shudd
de- the thought of falling into the hands of
Icters Turks, is the certainty that they and
IS no children COT both sexes) will be exposet
they personal outrages and denominations.
:. 1t word, Turkey is chargeable, upon al
and evidence, with cruel and unnatural I
AS to ment of women and children taken in
ay to or subjected to her sway, which ougl
, that prevent her being admitted within the
lily of civilized nations, Interference by {
recia- nations is justiflable on this ground if o
Ohio other. 5il sig
er, if As an illustration of these general s
aware ments Dr. Howe publishes letter of v
NM, VI we give portion -F53. ;j-,..5s ,ptfaa
,ao;i,, ARKrLo, July Is, is