The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-12
THE STORY OF CRETE.
rom the Age of Fable to the Pres
ent Year of Grace.
from the New York Tribune.


From the New York Tribune.
There are not many islands with a more
stormy or more heroic history than that
of Crete. In remote antiquity it was the
redoubtable isle of One Hundred Cities"
and had an illustrious line of kings, among
whom were Rhadamanthus, Minos and
Idomeneus. The last-named led a fleet of
eighty ships to assist in the conquest of
Troy. and was the last of what we may
call the legendary kings After him gap
of several centuries occurs and when the
record is resumed II IS no longer fable, but
authentic history. At the time of the
Persian invasion of Greece the island was
popuous and prosperous. IL was divided
into several Independent republics, which,
ike those Of Peninsular Hellas, were not
always in peace and friendship with each
other They kept free from foreign wars,
however, except as they voluntarily fur
nlShed mercenary troops to whichever side
would pay best for them. This was done
in both the Persian and Peloponnesian
wars when the Cretan archers were as
noted and as dreaded as those of Merry
England in later ages
The prowess of the ancient Cretans and
their insular position kept them free from
invasion down almost to the Christian era
While the eagles Of Rome tapped wide
wings in fiery fight over nearly an else
OF the known world that island retained
its independence. Indeed, it was only
AlAAOu5A IL AiNtollIH QQaIEelS InHt II was at
last subdued. Some seventy years before
the Christian Era Rome took advantage
of the prevailing dlscord in Crete to In
wade the island, on the pretext that the
| Cretans had given aid and comfort to
| Mithridates, and had iIl-treated some Ro-
man soldiers. The first army was repulsed
| and almost annihNated by the Cretans
| But Rome was determined to achieve the
conquest, If it took the whole power Of
| her empire. Army after army was sent
and after three years of desperate fight
/ ing Rome prevailed. For the first time in
! her history Crete became, in IS b. c., sub
/ Ject to an alien master. From that day
1 to the present, for more than 800 years,
| she has been conquered province, never
| once regafning the independence so long
| maintained and so reluctantly relinquish-
| ed.
For many years Crete remained an ap-
| pendage OF Rome, and then of Byzanti-
| UNI. 1t first fell INTO Moslem hands in
! oz3, when the Arabs, led by Michael the
/ Sufferer, found it an easy prey. No i'm
/ portant attempt to COLOMBO 1t was made
| by the new conquerers, but many of the
| Greek inhabitants, voluntarily or inVol-
| UNFAIRLY, accepted the Moslem faith. So
| 1t comes to pass that at this day there
| are few Turks or Arabs in the island,
| though many Mahometans, the latter be-
| ing of as pure Greek blood as their Chris
tan neighbors. After 1877 years Of Arab
! rule the island was retaken by the
! Greeks under Neighbours Phocas, who
taught the Arabs what he thought IAN
1
| Greek rule until the establishment of the
| Latin empire by the crusaders, when, in
| l2O4, 1t was turned over to Boniface, Mar
| quis of Montferrat. The Genoese tried
to buy It of him, but he sold it to their
| rivals, the Venetians, instead, for the
| sum of 100000 silver marks. The Cretans
| revolted against the Venetians, and as
! sisted by Genoa, gave them much trouble
| Indeed, during their several centuries of
| ownership the Venetians had few years
of peace with the turbulent islanders.
| The second MOslem conquest dates from
| 1910. Sultan Ibrahim, on the preteXt that
/ Venice had given assistance to the
| Knights of Malta, sent an army of 100000
| men to seize the island. 1t took them
| nearly two months to capture the port
| of Canea, and no less than twenty-four
| years to reduce the capital city of Gambia
| Then Venice yielded the whole island to
| the Turks, excepting three ports, the last
| of which she also relinqushed in IT'S
| Thereafter came the bloodiest chapter in
| Cretan history. Oppression, rapine, tor
| ture and massacre made up the daily story
| for more than a hundred years. The Gre
| tanS were in a chronic state of revolt
| and in 1921 would probably have been sue
| cessful had not an Egyptian army come
/ TO the aid of the Turks. Seven years later
| when Greece became Independent, Crete
! was coded to Egypt as a reward for the
! latter's services. For some years there
| after, under the wise rule of Mehemet
! Ali and Mustapha Pacha, the island en-
| toyed such prosperity, peace and Justice
| as it had not known for many centuries
| Unhappily, in 1910 the powers compelled
| Mehemet Ali to surrender ii again to Ttlr-
| key, and since then affairs have been near
! ~ as bad as possible. The great rebellion
| of thirty years ago resulted in the grant
| ing of some reforms. But the Cretans
| did not know how to make proper use of
| the advantage they had gained, and now
the whole battle must be fought over
| again.