The record-union., 1897-02-27

Arabs have ever lived upon the island
800 the Greeks took the island, much
to the delight of the mass of the peo-
| pie, but in 1904 it fell into the hands OF
Boniface, Marquis of Montferrat, when
the Latin Empire was established in
the time of the Crusaders.
| Boniface, when the Genoese tried to
buy the island, sold it to their rivals,
the Venetians, for 100000 silver
ed and Genoa came to their aid and
peace was unknown to the isle for a
long time. In 1916 the second Moslem
conquest led to the capture Of the ISL
and by the Moslem under Sultan lbra-
| him, who claimed that Venice had
aided the knights of Malta. He was
so hotly resisted that it took him two
months to capture Canea and twenty
| four years elapsed before the crescent
was triumphant over the cross at the
capital of Gambia. The outcome was
I that Venice yielded the territory, eX-
cept three ports, and the last of these
she gave up in 1115
| Then, say the historians, came the
| bloodiest chapter in Cretan history.
| Oppression, rapine, torture, unspeaka-
bic cruelty and awful outrage made up
each days story for a whole century.
All the while the Cretans were in
state of revolt; all the time they were
battling for their liberties. But in 1871
| Egypt sent an army to aid the Turk,
and seven years later Crete was ceded
to Egypt when Greece became indie
pendent.
There was comparative quiet ana
prosperity for long time under the
shrewd wise rule of Mehemets Ali and
| Mustapha Pasha. But in 1S40 the
Powers compelled Egypt to turn the
Cretans over to the mercy of the
Turks once more and ever since that
day there has been practically a condl-
ton of chronic revolt in the unhappy
island, and the rule of the Turk has
| pSSH dS CIuSl anu ullNlSC e'o IL PoS0AHA'
could be.
In the sixties the Cretans succeeded
by an uprising SO far as to wiring
from the Turkish Government prom
ise of reforms. Some of these We're
carried out, but as has been true of
the Turk always he violated most OF
his pledges. Twenty years or more ago
the Porte promised most solemnly that
Cretan should be made Governor,
and that local legislation should be by
chamber chosen by the Cretans, but
to this hour the promise has not been
honestly kept. and still 80, 900 Moslems
tyrannize over 250,000 Christians, ma
tive-born Cretans, who with the ad-
vance of civilization and the spread Of
knowledge and democratic sentiment
have come to understand that their
demand for liberty has the backing of
human right, and is precisely as justi-
fable as was our revolt against Eng
land and our successful assertion of
the right of the governed to chose their
| own form OF government.
AS the Cretans are in fact Gre
clans, it is not surprising that they
look to Greece, since it has achieved its
independence of Moslem domination,
as their best friend, and their only
helper. And Greece, though king
dom, has come to the help of the Gre
tans, not to conquer, but to give them
| either freedom or annexation as they
may choose. That they will prefer
the latter as a precautiOn, since they
are not territorially large enough nor
numerically strong enough to main
tain themselves under modern systems
of war against Europe with it's cow
ardce and Turkey with it's greed for
holding in bondage peoples foreign to
| it in tongue, religion and blood, is a
matter Of course.
There is another tie also; when
Greece raised the standard of freedom
| the Cretans nobly went to the assist
ance of their brethren, and fought for
them gaIlantly against the banners of
Turkey, but under the peace of Lon
don" they were sent back to chains
and the rule of the Porte. In 1866
Crete arose once more and nearly ac-
complished her independence, when
Louis Napoleon of France stretched
cut his hand and crushed her by inter
position.
AS matters stand, the Cretans say
| that Turkish promise is never kept
that the promise of autonomy is a fairy
story; that a Cretan cannot obtain
justice in the courts; that they are
heavily taxed and the money instead
of being applied to schools, internal i'm
Irovements, hospitals and general bet
terments is shipped away to Constan-
tinople to feed the luxuries of the Sui
tan and his houris of the harem. The
local officials are mainly Moslems.
There is not Christian policeman or
similar officer on the island True, the
Turks did send Crete a Christian Gov
ernor, but they put over him a
Moslem military Governor so
that he was an executive with
out power. This was so intoler-
able that this Christian civil Governor
three years ago ceased to exercise his
functions, and since then a Turk has
filed the Office.
Such, in brief, is the story of poor
Crete, and such is the situation that
Christian, enlightened, rich, powerful