The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1867-01-10
A Letter from Victor Hugo ON
the Struggle I'm Crete.

tue stfuBBfc In GEctes
NJ. Victor Hugo has written letter,
ofwhich the following is translation,
in reference TO the revolutionary con
test in Gambia "a cry re ches me from
Athens. In the city Of Phidias aud
.Esehylus an appeal is made to me---my
name is pronounced. What am | to
deserve such houorg Nothing but
vanquished man. And who are they
who call to me ? The vanquished. Yes,
heroic Cnndiotes, the fallen Of today,
you are the vietors OF the future
Perseyere Even II you are prostrated,
you will triumph. The protestation 81
dying agony is power.
II is an appeal 10 God, who brushes
WHAT Those mighty ones who are
now against you, those coalitions of
blind force and stubborn prejudice,
those armed antique iyranpies, have ne
their principal attribute a remarkable
facility of making shipwreck. The
tiara is on the poop, the turban on the
prov, the old monarehical ship is leak
ing. 1t is at this very hour laundering
in Mexico, in Austria, in Spain. in
Hanover, in Saxony. st Rome, and
elsewhere. Perseyerc You vauquish-
ed? Impossible. The instruction sup
pressed is not principle destroyed
There are no more .faits doeomplisj
there is only Right. Fact is never CON-
plcted. Its perpetual incomp eteuess
is the opening which is left to Right
Right cannot be submerged. The
waves Of events pass over il. 1t reap
pears. Drowned Poland floats on the
surface. For "a years European policy
has torn this corpse, aud the world has
seen its soul floating above the .fIifs oe-
eompiis Greeks Of Gambia, you have
right on your side, and you have also
re sou. Why Pasha should exist in
Crete is beyond comprehension. That
which is true of Italy is true also as
regards Greece. Venice ean5ot be res
tored to the one without Crete being
restored to the other. That which is
there a resurrection cannot be here
sepulehrc. But in the meantime blood
is flowing, and Europe permits it, She
gets accustomed to it, To-day il is the
Sultan's turn to exterminate u nation.
atty.
Is there a Turkish divine right veue-
rated as the Christian divine right p
Murder, robbery, violation, are at this
moment sweeping over Gambia as, six
months ago, they dashed over Germany.
That which would not be allowed to
Schinderhanncs Is allowed to policy
To have the sword in hand aud quietly
to witness these murders, this is called
craftsmanship. IL would seem that 70.
ligion is interested in what the Turks
are quietly doiog-the cutting of Can
dian throais--and that society would be
shaken if, between Scarperto and Cy-
therea, little children were not put to
the sword. There the ravaging Of crops
and the burning Of villages is useful
The motive which explains aud tolerates
these determinations Is beyond our
penetration.
Alas some Of the bumiliations Of men
whom long exile had made stupid q
am one Of them) is that they cannot
comprehend the great reasons Of the
present assassins. Never mind. The
Cretan question is henceforth clear. 1t
will be solved, aud solved like all the
other questions of this age, in the sense
Of dcliyeranee. Greece complete, Italy
COMPLICATIONS at the head of one,
Rome at the head Of the othcr--this is
what wc-Frauce-owe to our brothers
Il is debt that France win acquit; it
is duty that France viii discharge.
When I Perseyere.
VIcroR HUGO.
Hautcville House, Dee. 2, 1866.