The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1868-09-16
OF CRETE.

The defeat OF the CHRISTIANS AT Afkaul
had good effect-that of promoting the
cause Of the insurgents. By destroying the
Convent, Moustafa Pasha did as much to
help the instruction as he had before
done by stopping after the victory of Vafe.
Many men who had lost there their wives
and their children, resolved to fight the
! Turks, and to kill them mercilessly, in re-
| taliation for the murder of their families.
On the other hand, the details of that
tragic catastrophe, circulated on the Con-
tinent of Europe, created quite a sensa-
ton, and assumed the marvellous proper
tons of legend. An incident which had
hardly been noticed in the excitepent of
the struggle, now assumed capital i'm
portance in the story of the Arkadi battle.
1t was said that when the Turks gained
possession of the Convent yard, the old
people and women assembled in a large
hall on the ground floor, where the Abbot
declared his intention of blowing up the
monastery and dying under its ruins, rather
than surrender to the Mussulmans that
all begged to be allowed to share his fate,
and having knelt down, received his bene-
dietion, and united in a fervent prayer,
when monk, coming forth, threw burn
ing torch into the powder magazine, and
hundreds of Turks had found their death
under the scattered ruins Of the Convent.
However exaggerated the narrative may
have been, it contributed to awaken feel
ings of sympathy on the part of those
who had paid but little attention to
the Cretan revolt. 1t was then plainly
understood that the desperate contest at
the Convent of Arkadi, and the bloody
massacre ensuing, were but the prelude to
an inevitable war and an memorable strife.
As if to render it impossible that the
remembrance of the horrible fight should
be forgotten by either Christians or Mus
sulmans, the latter left in haste, without
burying the dead. Conquerors and con-
quered are still lying side by side, mould
ering upon the ground strewn with arms
and debris, in the deserted halls of Arkadi
Subsequently to that disaster, there are
hardly any military deeds worthy of de-
tailed account. The Cretans perfectly
understood that it was sheer madness for
them to attempt to carry on the war, as
they had begun it, under the auspices of
the Grecian officers. What could they do
against the discipline and the lar-reaching
artillery of their enemies? They thence
forth resisted all the arguments of the
European officers, and their own plan was
certainly the best. They knew that they
were not able to annihiate the formidable
forces sent against them by the Porte, but
they knew also that they could weary and
dispirit the Turks by incessant skirmishes,
and by continually keeping them on the
alert. The Egyptian soldiers, little used
to the cold temperature of the valleys of
Mt Ida and Mt. Blanc, were dying rapidly.
The Turkish Government would soon tire,
for they were not capable of carrying on
for long time the campaign they were
The Christians also enter
tanned the hope that if the instruction
could be kept alive for length of time,
the European Cabinets would be forced
from their pretended lethargy, and would
To arrive at this end, it was
necessary that the Turks should not move
a step without hearing the whizzing of
bullets, and that they should meet, wher-
ever they went, with an armed protesta-
ton, the pertinacious existence of which
would soon be made known outside of the
limits of Gambia.
The struggle, therefore, from that time,
was nothing but one of partisans, of which
the thousand episodes, always different
and always the same, would be too long to
relate.
In spite of their firm will, and of their
the Cretans would soon have
been compelled to give up the contest if
she blockade declared by the Porte, at the
of hostilities, had been
-eally effective. The want of communica-
ion land when the Island was plundered,
he want of bread, would soon have quell-
ID the lnsurrection. Hunger is the only
enemy which can uot be conquered by in
lomitable energy. The Divan had sent
o Crete all the steamers Of the Empire.
Steam was constantly kept up, and the
expense, according TO the wasteful habits !
# Turkish functionaries, was enormous.
That imposing display did not prevent
uccor from arriving for the insurgents.
Every week it was reported at Canea that
he Pd,s-Hellenion, or the Arkddi, had
lnded on some part of the coast, pro-
isions, ammunition and volunteers. The
turkish cruisers used to arrive just in
ime to behold the swift steamer taking
N board women, children and wounded,
scaping from the seat of war. They
you'd chase her at respectful distance,
xchange few shots with her, and escort
er to the limits of Grecian waters. In
heir wrath, the Turks were led to believe
4 the work of an evil spirit, and called
ha ArI-1,T the Z" Sheitan Vapori."-the