The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-24
A L A

There are some dark spots in Eng
| lish history, but no stain has ever
been fixed upon the British flag so foul
and so indelible as the firing by the
| powers, with England in the lead, upon
a camp of Cretan insurgents. 1t Is
ar act so Inconsistent with every pro-
fession of that people, so at wal with
all history, so unworthy in it's motives
and awful in it's consequences
that the cries of shame" with
which the ministry swas greeted
by the opposition in parliament must
echo around the world wherever Eng
lish blood beats in hearts that are true.
1t is hard for US to understand, ever
If we admit the somnolence and sell
ishness Of modern politics, why the
people of Great Britain, who are not
wholly lost to humanity and worthy
motives, do not rise In their wrath and
sweep from power a cabine that dares
to c~ountenance and still dares to de-
fend this infamy. The mockery and
pretense behind it is still the necessity
of preserving the peace in Europe. 1t
is ~insincere and worthless.
NJ. Balfour, the government leader,
has no better apology to offer h a to
ask the question: vii any one main
tain that after the powers had occu-
pied the towns of Crete they were to
fold their arms and sail away?" Why
did they hasten to occupy the towns or
Crete? Did they occupy the towns Of
Armenia during the two years when
men were being butchered and women
outraged by thousands?~ Did they ever
fire a shot against Constantinople
when the vicious beast who sits in
power there was gorging his appetite
for blood and lust upon his victims?
What else did they do but fold their
arms and sail away after they had
delivered one of their alleged ultima
tums to the sultan, and he had con-
temptuously declined to pay heed to it?
Their apathy, their prOcr~astination,
their disagreements and their final re-
fusal to interfere between Turkey and
her victims when the turk was the
aggressor is in shameful contrast with
their alacrity to anticipate the arrival
of the Greeks in Crete, and to prevent
the escape of the prey from the jaws
Of its fierce pursuer.
What folly it is to assert or intimate
that the absorption Of Crete by the
kingdom of Greece would impair the
integrity of the Ottoman empire or
throw the great powers into discord.
Let any one look at a map n he
will see that Crete naturally belongs
to Greece, and hat it's union with her
would be as proper, geographically
speaking, as it would be welcome to
her people. To retain this little island
in the clutches of the fell monster Of the
East, the ironclads of the powers ac-
tually bombarded a camp of Christian
insurgents in Crete, acting as allies 20
the Ottoman power. The indelible
shame of it must cause every English
man to hang his head in disgrace. We
have responsibility enough Of our own,
God knows, in 1.-The case Of Cuba; but
we have only to imagine what would
be the feeling in the United States if
our white squadron, under the COM
mand of our officers, were joined with
a Spanish fleet in storming an insur-
gent camp to help Weyler continue his
horrid butchery, and to think Of the
leader of the house or senate rising in
his place to explain and e~Xtenuate such
action, to realize to what depths Of
obloquy Great Britain has fallen. Such
an act by us, far less reprehensible
though it would be than England's po-
sitiOn in Crete, would shake the very
foundations Of our government and
sweep the party responsible for it out
of office with a whirlwind of public in
dignation.
Not when she forced upon China the
dreadful opium habit at the point Of
the bayOnet for her own commercial
gain, not when, in retaliation for the
horrors Of the Indian mutiny, she
blew sepOys from the mouths Of
amor did England suffer such eter-
nal and blasting shame as now When
she turns the mouths of her guns upon
the Christian to make him bare his
neck to the Mohammedan sword. The
shades Of the great crusaders must
look down in sorrow and agony in
supportable upon the final union, as
brothers at arms, between the British
soldiery and the Saracen and infdel.
Linked in eternal disgrace on history's
page henceforth, the "unspeakable
Englishman' will stand side by side
with the "u~nspeakable Turk"
HE WILL NOT REVOKE 1T.