The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-03-03
CRETE.

1t looks as if the great European
war, which has been prophesied for so
long u time might be close at hand.
That ever embroiling Eastern ques-
ton has to be fought out some lay, it
never will be settled till the Turk is
driven out of Europe and the most fer
tile provinces and islands of the Med
iterranean put under Christian rule
That there will be a long period of al
most anarchy after the Turk has gone
is a foregone conclusion. 1t cannot
be expected that people, who have
been down-trodden, who have had
comparatively no education, who have
been debarred from newspaper intel
ligence, and who have been practically
isolated from the rest of the Christian
world by their Mahommedan task
masters, should very readily take to
the self government which now seems
almost in their grasp. The pivot upon
which the great war will turn seems
TO be Crete.
Crete, or Gambia, as it used to be
known in the Middle Ages, has pref
ty varied history. But first as to its
size. 1t is $50 miles long and breadth
of from six to thirty-five miles. 1t has
numerous harbors, possesses fertile
soil, the climate is healthy and sup
ports, even under its present adverse
circumstances, population of about
100000. of whom $4,000 are Turks and
the rest are Greeks.
1t is not necessary to go back to the
very beginning of Cretan history, like
the old gentleman in John Parry's
farce of the wedding Breakfast"
who, in answering the toast for "The
ladies'" commenced with '',rhe
Ancient Romans in their wedding fes-
tivities"-Poor John Parry, brilliant
entertainer, a fine composer, an excel
lent pianist and organist and he died
mad. Well, The Star does not intend
to go back to the time of the Ancient
Romans" 1t is sufficient to know that
after twenty-four years siege the
Turks obtained possession of the
island in 1869. From that day to this
they have simply tyrannized over the
people of the island just as they have
tyrrapized over people of the Christian
faith wherever their foot has been
placed. The tyrrany and ignorance of
the Kalifa, as shown in Slatin Pasha's
=,
only the same logical outcome of the
Moslem spirit. Even to the well-edu-
Gated Turk he is dog of a Chris
tian,' no matter whether he be an
American, an ,Englishman, "A French
man, a German or a Russian. The
christian dogs guns may be power
full and it may be necessary to cringe
to him, but there are weaker Christ
ians to bully and the ''unspeakable,"
as Gladstone named the Turk, has GER
tainly taken it out of the weaker, as
Bulgaria, Armenia, and Crete are wit
ness of. Greece herselfwas witness of
it. How CALAMITY she burst its chains,
working from the years 1921 to 1929,
when the Turks finally acknowledged
her independence. 1t was gallant
fight and some of the most brilliant
minds in Europe were engaged in that
struggle for liberty. 1t was gained for
Greece but not for Crete.
For the last siXty-four years, that is,
from the time of the liberation of
Greece, Crete has been in chronic
state of revolution. In 1858 there were
serious instructions all over the
island, then in 1859 there were perse-
cutions of the Christians. In 1866 there
was an almost successful instruction.
1t was a time of great excitement and
the Great Powers interviewed. A pro-
visional Government was formed, but
in 1868 it surrendered. In 1878 there
was another insurrection, and the
island was in a state of anarchy. Dis
turbances again commenced in 1884
and 1887 and have continued to the
present day.
The story of Crete is, in nutshell,
the story of the whole Eastern ques-
tom The Great Powers are all jealous
of one another. Russia, France, Ger
many, Italy, England Austria, have all
interests in that direction, and the
Turk has been kept in his unstable
stool by their bayonets. The Emperor
Nicholas was not far wrong when he
told the English Ambassador that Tur-
key was 'sick man and it were bet
ter to divide his goods" 1t would
have been better for Europe, it would
have been better for humanity had his
suggestion been taken. Endless wars