Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1868-04-17
The Cretan Question.

The Cretan Question.
Next to impeachment the most pop
H. .~r:o ~r Oe.l1A oi-iD O~1- = III
be the Cretan question. What is it
and why should we take any inter-
est in it? 1t is the latest phase of
Americanism in Europe; it is the in
cipient stage of the final struggle
between Moslem domination and the
religion of Our Lord. 1t is sub
ject, therefore, eminently proper for
our sympathetic consideration on this
Easter week.
Crete, in itself, has no special at
fractions for the American student
1t has an old and chequered history.
to be sure but neither more ancient
nor more varied than that of every
other foot of land in eastern Europe.
1t is only as a battlefield between
the Asiatic and the American political
systems, between the Mohammedan
and the Christian faiths, between
brutal conservatism and enlightened
progress, between immemorial bar
barism and modern civilization, that
it claims our sympathy and our as
sistance. For nearly two years the
Greeks of this little island off the
Morea h ave CALAMITY commended
against the forces of the Turkish En-
pire, led by the ablest of the Moslen
generals. Army after army has beer
sent against them; their fertile plains
have been laid waste; their villages
have been given to the torch anC
their olive trees cut down; but will
a valor and persistency that would
have done honor to their ancestors il
the paimiest days of old Greece, the,
have kept up the fight, never yielding
never offering to compromise, but dis
dainfulIy rejecting every proposition
of peace that has been rendered b,
the Turks. They know too well tina
the Mohammedan regards his plight
ed word as valueless when it is give
to the infidels. They remember SciC
which ip the long, long struggle be
tween the GreekS ana TIE
the same relation to them that For
Pillow does to our civil war. Scic
III 1921, was prosperous and fertil
island, with a population of one hun
dred and fifty thousand inhabitants.
A battalion Of Greeks landed an,
captured the Turkish fortresses, upo
which the Moslem authorities let loos
all army of twenty thousand men
who put to the sword one hundred
and nine thousand souls, sold fort
thousand women and children int
slavery and for horrible uses, an
left only nine hundred persons aliv
on the island This gigantic Grim
has been repeated in detail whereve
Greeks and Turks have fought-an
they have fought wherever the Nc
hammedans have exercised domino
ton over the Christian population
of the old classic land on the isle
of Greece 1t is idle to talk of con
promise between foes so irreconcil;
= ble. The religion of the Turk make
it impossible for him to regard
Christian as a being entitled to an
rights whatever. 1t teaches him tina
he is an outlaw, whom it is neithe
: criminal to kill nor expedient to Ell
e dow with civil rights. The Christian
f inthe eyes of the Turk, is only tole1
ated as a beast of burden is tolerated
because he can be taxed to supper
Moslem power; but with no highe
: rights. Turks in independent Greco
have all the rights of native citizens
\ they are neither molested in the
+ property nor persons; but unde
Turkish domination the case is entir
ly reversed. The genius of the faitf
5 is strikingly exhibited in these facts
b Diplomacy alone has kept Gre
under the power Of Turkey. III
n Cretans won their independence {
bravely as the Greeks whose ind
pendence was recognized in 1922
} But they were mercilessIy handle
n over to Egypt by the great powe
s for purely political reasons; and ev
e since, as before, they have been su
jected to the most intolerable 0
pressions. Again they have appes
y ed to arms, and are likely to ga
q their independence. We are not as
d ed to help the fighting men-they a
le confident of their ability to ACHE
70 their great object; we are asked on
to feed the furnishing women and CHI
Q dren who have fed in terror of Tur
e. ish outrage from Crete to the mai
IT land, and are now dependent on t
= charity of Christendom. Their S;
y plea has a double claim on eve
Christian American for both as nee,
and helpless poor, and as the famili
5 of the soldiers of the cross again
Y. the Crescent, they have right to e
S. pect that we shall hear and aid the
boston Journal.
;. A youth of % lived in Canaan, N.
i'll 1855, who thought he couldn't ca
10 money enough to nav his taxes Int