New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-04-15
TIE PLIGHT OE TIE POWERS.

The great Powers of Europe, or some or them'
.o,o moro than once misbehaved They have
been guilty of blunders, if not OF somethlhg
worse and have brought themselves INTO hu-
initiating or discreditable positions But never
within the memory of living men, have they
Jared more Ill than now. Never nave the! as
sumed an attitude more indefenslDie from the
moral point of view, or more isnomnlous from
the self-respcctng. From the beginning OF the
present Cretan troubles they have acted partly
with indecision, partly with cowardce, geher-
cI,r with selfshness; never with trace of that
,ohIi,v Of shirt which should characterize the
dealings of great Powers with great questions
of humanity Day by day they have drfted or
bcen maliciously or maladrotly led, into deeper
and deener complications of unworthiness, until
to-day there is no pXaggeration i'll saying they
ME hopeIcssly muddlcd. their vaunted con
cert" Is q delusion and their prospect dark with
storms Of their own devisng.
The trouble began with the neglect or refusal
nj the Powers 10 execute the reforms in Crete
which they had guaranteed. Next disorder oc-
Cured in that island The Powers did not check
II. The Cretans appealed to Greece and Greece
interviewed The Greek proposal was that, since
10 one else could or would do so, Greece should
restore and maintain order, and that then the
Cretans should be permitted TO choose Prince,
who should rule them under suzeranty OF the
Porte. To that the Powers objected. There
rnon Greece sent an army of occupation TO re-
s,ore order. and accepted the all but unanimous
desire of the Cretans for annexation To that
the Powers also objected, and ordered the
Greeks to withdraw, in order that the Porte
might subjugate the island with Kurdish cav
airy and Bashi- Bazouks in the most approved
Armenian fashion. The Greeks refused, but Of
fercd to withdraw simultaneously with the
Turks. To that the Powers would not agree.
and they accordingly sent warships and troops
10 Crete to wage war against the Greek Chris
tians and 70 assist the Greek Moslems and
Turks.
Nothing has been more evident than the sym
pa,hy Of the Powers with the Turks and their
hostility toward the Greeks. When the Greeks
agreed TO let the Moslems bcsieged at Kandamos
20 free If they would surrender their arms, the
Powers assepted; and then trcacherously let
the Mosems keep their arms, for the further
butcherlng Of Christians On the slightest
proyOcaton, and or none at all. the ships of
The Powers have fired upon Christians; while
they have studously RETAINED from firing upon
Turks, even when the latter were violating flags
of truce and massacring Christians in cold
blood. The Powers have established wholly
illegal blockade of Crete against all nations but
Turkey, but they let the latter send her war
ships and troops there at will. They have
threatened TO blockade Greece itself. and have
made all sorts Of menaces against the Greek
troops on the border, but never a word Of that
kind against the Turks.
And now, when it is all too late, they are as
senting to the very selfsame Greek proposals
which they at first rejected so scornfuy They
ere In regular blue funk over the prospect OF
war in Macedonia which they themselves
have made probable. They are still babbling
about the integrity Of the Turkish Empire"
when there is not one of them that has not yio-
lated that integrity over and over again, and
when they are all doing so at this very moment.
They prate about treaties and concerts when
their own great Treaty Of 1878 remains to this
Gay unfulflled. They have before them the
spectacle OF vast Turkish army threatening
- invade Greece, aud for that purpose en-