New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-08-10
CRETE.
LETTER FROM DR.. HowE-TERRIBLE sUFFERlNGS
OF THE CRETAN REFUGEES - TURKISH
WARFARE.

To the Editor OF The London Times;
At the request of charitable committees and
individuals in the United states, the undersigned has
been acting as their amoner for the relief Of the noncom
batans of the island Of Crete The result Of careful
study of the condition and wants Of these wretched sur
ferers especially Of those remaining In the island should
properly be communicated the committees in America;
but sufficient reason addressing Christian peo
pie will DO found in the following statement;
At the outbreak of tho revolt all who could get away
from Crete did So and probably about 10000 fed About
1900 are in Greece proper OF these about 5000 pck up
scanty livelihood by their own efforts, while siOo are
registered and receive from the sevcrai committees"
daily pance Of 40 lepas for adults ana ~ leP'aS loI
children which will barely buy bread sufficient 10 support
life But Yesterday an industrious and self-supporhg
noasantrv these latter are to-day houseess ana ragged
dependents They live huddled together In barracks IN
public buildings in stables, in poor novels Ihey SIT anu
seep upon the floor for lack Of furniture and they wait
back TO their native island Such is the condtoh OF no
Cretans WHO have fed hither ... oo-.,s.. % those
who having from their burned villages TOOK ret1Se
in the fortified towns upon e of the Turkish army
There are 5000 I'm MegalOCastrO lVVV III wv -
Least 060 I'm all AS the native Turks who had been
driven from the interior naturally se a UPON t he
island these Greek refugees are housees pehess mar
clad and half fed They live in the chnrches' SCHOOL
Institution and wretchedness, aud IN constant terror LOT
their lives and for the a0hUr Snd cdrep in the
bnn of the Greek Consul The Turks allow TO each
oke 2f ny Of poor flour a week, hardly enough 10
snnport life while to their soldiers they give large
rations of bread, rs drachms OF meat with butter OIL
onions salt and tobacco Beside their little allowance
of flour poor Greeks get nothing not even root
herb for they not permitted to go outside the
walls protected in their lives, they subject to the
indignities which Turks are wont TO practise upon
Christians when their passions are reused and which
Christians alas are not slow 10 realiate. "Ahl" said
Greek in CANDIDA the other day. It is hard to be
spit upon. but harder to have bullying Turk strut up to
the Turkish soldiers, after sacking Greek church;
brought the gilded cheru6m into Retymo and amused
themselves and shocked the Greeks by using the sacred
images for targets.
Such the condition Of the second division or the
Cretan refugees IL can be proved beyond an question OF
cavil that they suffering dreaduy yet ey are not
allowed TO get away, either by land or by sea- lew
Greek peasants who remain outside the walls OF tho
cased towns driven by hunger to seek food there
seanT ration sY Of -four and salt probably for fear that
they should supply the families IN the mountains anu so
relax the systematic pressure of famine The third dV
sion is composed Of those who have fed from their burned
villages TO the mountains: Their number is yariously
Mehemet Pasha's comparatively mild mode Of
warfare, the fertile brain Of his successor,
Rov eSeesSs It. by which da Of
is brought TO bear upon nOncOmbatants; A vigorous
prsOnhouse in which fortunes OF various kinds are sy
Dramatically applied upon an Immense scale ana upon ,e
screws are steadily frightened that the agonizng cries
OF their and children may lead the men To SUB
nit Disciplined armies preceded by fanatic and Zero
cious rregulars, devastate the open country Durn e
houses destroy the crops down the trees tear up the
vines and leave living and green thing behind them
The wretched fugves who escaped with their lives from
their burning villages now stand upon the shores and the
mountain sides aud stretch out their hands to the Chris
dreaded than DEATH around them barren rocks be
fore them the sea-, so closely blockaded that
have no houses, and the oayerns are not
large enough to shelter them ALL They have not cloth
ing enough not rags enough to cover their naked
ness so that modest man avoids looking at young
women and maidens They have not food enough for
their little ones who cling round their mothers limbs
and almost gnaw them in the agony OF hunger Famine
has been regarded of those awful instruments by
| w Almighty
laws OF tolerate its usage against gar1sons ana
armies but must RENEGADE Pacha be permitted to WELD
It in Europe, against whole Christian people AT mo
report OF supplies having reached certain spot multi
barefooted and half naked to get share AZ the report
that vessel is off the coast multitude swarm toward
the landing, 10 get Oh board
People Of England, this sort OF upon Chris
! ton community be allowed 10 continue, when word
spoken from certain quarters can stop INC Creahs
aided by less than score Of European volunteers, and
by no more Greek volunteers than Omar Pacha has OF
Albanian and other foreign volunteers nave, by zen
months gallant resistance against the whole power OF
| bellgerents. At any rate the Christian women and
children Of Crete have by long endurance of bitter suffer
and TO the expression OF your earnest wish that Christian
governments may intercede and them from death
nit" Their fathers tried submission and they them.
selves know by experience what humiliation ana out
await those whose lives spared, ana who again
bow TO the Turkish yoke have heard mothers who are
suffering extreme want declare with shudder that
they would rather see their children die around them
than be put into the power Of enagod Turks I Is bit
ter mockery TO saw as has been virtually said In high
place. 70 refugees who live wretched paupers In
foreign land We have left your loved native isle in vain
we houseess thousands who wander In the mountains,
and live in we ali mistaken for know that
atrocities crueles which ye exist only
Of the Turks that the Greeks also commit atrocities the
hTT S u, f bn 1ee arc now no turkish women ana
with defending their lives they have had means Of
organizing government strong enough 10 prevent a
peasanry maddened by long series Of wrongs and out
RACES, from taking vengeance.
The atrocities Of the Greeks individual cases. those
of the Turks systematic Intentional and Wholesale
Indeed the whole plan Of the atrocous Turkey
TO be admitted into the community OF civilized nations
she ought 10 be required either conduct civ
ilZed Governments conduct war, or 10 abandon IL She
ought not to he allowed to systematically upon wo
men and children by starvation But even IL one Claims
that it is defensibe TO employ famine TO subdue peope
the Turkish authorities are chargeabe with another Of
Tense against the laws owar and the interests of human
ty wit the treatment OF prisoners Few are taken
fight, because quarter seldom given expected by
psoners By the Turks and their treatment Is really
atrocious. The evidence OF common cruelties such
those who seek for more, in order to believe, in
from the dead But the Turks like to make prison.
OF boys girls, and women; and their treatment Is
9itea 50 lnieTa aq 20 o m Sh. one Gaa az
The dop0abe truth Is that the social condition and nst
tuons of the Turks have developed monsrous passions
and the moral standard among them so low that crimes
which Of old called down fire from Heaven now excite
no indignation SURPRISE The Government can.
not II II would restrain such monsters Hundreds OF
Cretan mothers have solemny and WITH unnlsta ak
simplicity, assured me that what causes them ana all the
women they know to shudder at the thought OF falling
into the hands Of the Turks s the certainty that they
| posed to personal outrages and denominations. In
| q word, Turkey is chargeable, upon ample evil
dence with cruel and unnatural treatment OF women
nd children taken In war subjected 10 her sway,
which ought 10 prevent her being admitted within the
pale Of civilized nations Interference by ether nations
istusabe on this ground II other What has been
said above in general way concerning the condition OF
the Cretans, can be verified by examining particular
cases and have papers and documents which viii veri
fy It, But look beseech you at the following state
nent cargo Of provisions and clothing from America
was lately Conveyed by faithful and courageous into
the mountains Of Sphaka and the result shown In the
| following letters lust received: