The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1878-07-18
CYPRUS.
England,s Latest Acquisition.

The island has an area of 4, 500 squar
miles. It's greatest length, from Baff
in the northwest to Cape Andrea in th
northeast, is lao miles, and it's creates
breadth is sixty miles. Population, 200,
900.
The history of Cyprus takes us bacl
to the morning of civilization. Colo
nized by the Phenicians, conquered b,
the Greeks, wrested from them by tht
Egyptians, seized next by the Persians
made part of the Macedonian kingdom
after the victory Of Alexander, subse
quently incorporated into the Gr@co
Egyptian kingdom Of the Ptolemies, i
formed still later portion of the Ro
man and Byzantine empires. It was
conquered by the Arabs in the seventh
century. and was known as the Kingdom
of Cyprus in the era of the crusades
when, for the reported wrecking, rob
bling. and Imprisonment of some of his
people, while he lay sick at Rhodes
Richard the Lion-Hearted visited the
island with his wrath, captured Isaac
the Comnenian Prince, who styled him
self Emperor of the island, and carried
him off to castle on the coast of Pales
tine. For time it formed part of the
Latin Kingdom Of Palestine, and the
name of Cyprus was added to the title Of
the Christian Kings of Jerusalem. Il
was, in fact. possession of the
Knights Templar until, after various
vicissitudes, the Venetians obtained and
held it till it was wrested from them by
the Turks.
The contentious over it in ancient
times were not merely because it was an
island fruitful in resources, but because
it was indispensable, as Curtius is his
"History OF Greece" observes, to any
state DESTROYS of commanding the seas
between Asia Minor, Phenicia, and
Egypt. It supplied mercenaries, al
ways good sailors, to any power thai
would pay we'll for them. It furnished
Hiram of Tyre with craftsmen, some oil
whom doubtless we're sent to Jerusalem
to assist his great friend Solomon in the
building of the temple.
When the Greeks of the cities of Asia
Minor rose against their Persian op.
pressors, the Greeks Of Cyprus offered
no assistance, but served in the armies
Of the Persian monarch. A hundred
years later there was Hellenic revolt
on the island under the leadership oil
Euagoras, one of the Princes of the nine
petty kingdoms into which the island
was then divided. Euagoras had formed
a considerable feet, and was rapidly
making himself master of the island,
when Artaxerxes, the Persian monarch,
fearing he might become too powerful,
collected an Ionian feet greater than
had been seen since the time of Xerxes.
A great naval battle was fought, in
which Euagoras was defeated, blockaded
in Salamis, and finally brought to terms
by the Persians, whose vassal he be.
came. Had Cyprus assisted the Greeks
in their rising, the Persian power
would have been broken, and the disas-
ters Of her own conquest would have
been averted.
To-day Cyprus has the same command
ing position in the Levant that she had
when the triremes of Euagoras crowded
the port of Salamis. Asa base of opera
WO4os ClUI1Cl LUZ tllc CO1lCCUIOA VI I'LL dIlIy
OF feet, to protect the Suez canal. to
threaten or defend the ports of Egypt,
or to dispatch an armed force to any part
of Asia Minor or Palestine, none bette,
could have been selected in the Mediter.
ranean. The cession of Cyprus to En-
gland is. therefore, very significant
event. It fully offsets any advantage
Russia may gain by the extension of hen
Caucasian frontier over the eastern por.
tion of Armenia. It will make a splen.
did rendezvous for troops ordered from
India, and as station for supplies anc
coaling for English men-of-war in. the
Levant or the Hgean sea, or in any par
of the Eastern Mediterranean, it il
more convenient than either Malta o.
Gibraltar.