Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-01-22
Crete


If, as the telegraph announces, Crete
has yielded, she has relinquishsd her
purpose. The unhaDpIest sign Is that
the meeting here to express sympathy
for the struggling Cretans has excited
a certain kind Of eensure. Here Is an
isiand, five th0asand miles away, peo-
pied By Greeks and ruled By Turks.
Lit has never ceased, and no Greek
population so ruled ever did cease, to
protest against the tyranny that op-
presses il. The country is not only
desBetIeally governed by aliens in
race, bnt aliens in religious faith. Now
the differences of religion are fierce
and final The Greeks may be of a
very poor kind of Christian, in our
judglnent-they may be very ignorant,
indolent, knavish, semi -barbarous-
but it is in just such people, where
religion degeBerates into superstition,
that fierce differences become fiereer
and religious quarrels more bitter.
What a Turkish government, follow
ing a conquest of -infidels," is, we all
know. How much security, how
much peaceful industry, how much en-
ioyment Of common rights is possible
under il, needs not TO be argued. The
Turkish rule of q conquered people is
merely heel and rd-point and
they are not bound to submit single
moment beyond that when hope and
depair together rouse their arm to
strike back for freedom.
The Cretan struggle is fight for
liberty it is a claim for justice, and
these only will sneeT at it who are fit
to be slaves. That il is DOT hopeless
fight is shown by the fact that Turkey
has striyen in vain for three years to
regain the island, and that Europe is
now meeting to decide what shall be
done. And then somebody asks, what
business is it of ours Liberty is
every where every mans business. IF
he is passing through the street and
sees one man assaulting another-it is
not his quarrel. probably-he may pass
quietly by upon the other side. IF as
Hassins attack Mr.. Rogers at his own
door, let Rogers and the rufians fight
it out, quoth the spirit of this ques-
ton. Am my brothers keeper ask
ed the astute Cain. The same question
that is asked Of Crete used to be asked
and By the same people, about slavery
in this country. Injustice, inhuman-
ity, unspeakable wrong and crime,
exclaimed the same critics. Good
Heavens what have we to do with it ?
Let South Carolina and Mississippi
mind their own affairs. 1t was IN
vain to show that the consequences of
injustice did not stop at State lines
that wrong would not stay upon one
bank Of river, and that malaria and
small pox would not respect county
limits My neighbor's plague is not
my business, " said something that re-
ally supposed itself to be practical
good sense, until its neighbor's plague
laid hold of if, and then it discovered
that men are brethren in very posi-
tive sense.
It is the business of every man, and
ofeYery nation, to sympathize with
those who are struggling for liberty
and if for no other reason than be-
cause 1t is now demonstrated that
there will be no end of such struggles
until liberty is secured. Crete has
protested. She has made representa-
tions of her wrongs. Three times be-
fore she has resisted with arms. This
time she made a peaceful appeal, and
Turkey answered with the sword. Crete
has satisfied the conditions of an arm
ed rising, and she has earned the right
TO appeal to all lovers OF justice and
liberty in the world for individUl SYM
pathy and aid. To turn deaf ear or
sneeriDg lip at Crete is to sharpen
the sword of Turkey and to become an
accomplice in the murder of a people.
Crete asks only for our sympathy and
help in procuring arms and food. She
hopes, Of course, that when she has
shown her purpose and her power,
other states viii recognize her inde-
as France and Spain did
that of the thirteen colonies, and as
England did that of the South
American republics.
Let the great deed of Canea plead
with us for Crete as that at Thermo-
pylae still glorifes old Greece. Six
hundred Cretans were besieged in the
cid convent at Canea by ten thousand
Turks. When the enemy burst
through the outer wall the battle was
fought hand to hand Tor six hours in
the court yard. Then, when it could
be continued no longer, the Cretans
who remained applied the match to
the magazine, and three thousand of
the foe died with them. The spirit
that smiled at Andersonville for an
other, but similar reason, will sneer
at Crete. Hdrper's Weekly