The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-09

couched in the form of an utimatum
There was no doubt, he said, that there
was a difference between the position of
Turkey and that of Greece. The latter
was acting in defiance of the powers, while
Turkey was acting purely on the defensive
and showing that she had no desire to re-
slst the desires of the powers.
MT G. N. Curzon, under foreign secre-
tary, said 1t was impossible TO pledge the
powers to the appointment of a Christian
| governor of Crete.
dispatch from Heraklion, Island of
Crete, to the Central News, says that the
insurgents who are besieging the town.
to-day decaled the armistice ended and
closed upon the place The Ottoman
| troops resisted the insurgents from three
points in the outskirts, and there was
sharp lighting. No further details are
| given.
| The reply of Greece has not been issued
| oficialiy and it is, therefore, impossible to
state its exact terms.
The Morning Post will tomorrow pub
lish a dispatch sent from Athens tonight
| saying that Greece, in the course of her
reply demands the annexation of Crete to
| her territory on the grounds of historic
| rights and community of race and relig-
| ion. Nevertheless, she declares that she
would withdraw her fleet from Cretan
waters II the powers would delegate to
| the Greek army the work of pacifying the
ed the Cretans should be allowed to freely
| express their opinion as to the future fate
| of the island.
The Chronicle tomorrow will publish a
| dispatch from Athens giving the full text
of the reply of Greece to the powers. After
brief preamble the reply continues: I'm
| view of the extraordinary gravity of the
result which will follow, his majesty's gov
ernment considers it to be its duty to sub
init to the powers its opinion of the Eeas-
ures decided upon, an opinion which is the
| result of long experience and profound
acquaintance with the situation in Crete"
| Impressed by the sentiments which an
| innate the powers and their soIicitude for
! general peace, the Greek government will
not fail in this duty, since Greece also ar
| dentiy desires to contribute to the main
| tenance of peace and to save from utter
| ruin the population of an island put to so
| severe a trial and so often decimated.
'We believe that the new regime of au-
! tonomy adopted by the powers, unhappily
cannot correspond to the noble intentions
| that inspire IT, and that it will suffer the
| fate of the different administrative sys-
| TENS, which, at various times and without
| success, have been tried in Crete.
| This is not the first time that Crete
| finds herself in a state of insurrection.
In recent times, on more than six occa-
| siOns, the horrors of anarchy have shaken
| and imperiled her existence.
| If then the new regime, with which it
| is proposed to endow her, is not calcu-
| lated to re-establish order in a definite
| manner. the Greek government cannot
| doubt the impossibility of putting an end
by means of it, to the present state of rev.
| olution. Anarchy will continue to ravage
| the country with fire and sword in it's
! hands, blind fanatieism will continue its
| destructive work of exterminating peo-
| pie which assuredly does not deserve such
| a fate.
Before such a prospect our RESPONSE
| bility would be enormous if we did not
| most earnestly urge the powers not to in
| sist upon the scheme of autonomy propos-
| ed, but rather to restore to Crete what
| she already had at the time of the en-
| franchisement of the other provinces
which form the Kingdom of Greece, and TO
! lead her back to Greece, to which she be-
| longed since Capriodistis was president.
| 'In the presence of the recent scene OF
( massacre, pillage and contiagra ton in
| Canea, in the presence of the frightful
| anguish to which the inhabitants of Crete
| have been exposed and menaced by the
| boundless fury of the Mussulman popula-
| ton who prevented the departure of
| Christian families for Greece, which has
| always been a providential refugee for all
| these miserable beings, our whole country
| was torn with remorse for the responsible
| ity it assumed last year in inducing the
L
| fortunes that resulted forbade us to un-
| dertake once more such task, and II we
| had attempted il our voice would certain
| ly have been feeble.
Its echo would have reached the Gre
tan people.
"It being the case. therefore, that new
/ regime of autonomy could not fulfill the
noble aim of the powers, 1t is obvious
| what would be the situation of the un-
| happy island from to-day until the es-
tablshment of this regime.
/ "If the powers believe It to be their duty
| TO persevere in their resolutions, with the
| above views and in the name of human
| ity, as well as in interest of the island,
| the pacihcaton of which is the unique
| object of the solicitude of the powers, we
| do not hesitate to appeal to them on the
| subjects of other measures, namely, the
recall of our military forces. Indeed if,
because of the presence of the united
| squadrons in Cretan waters and in the
conviction that these squadrons will not
| permit Turkish troops TO disembark on the
! island, the presence also of all the ships
| of the Greek fleet off Crete is judged to
be unnecessary. the presence of the Greek
army on the island is nevertheless shown
to be desirable alike from sentiments of
| humanity and in the interests of the de-
tinitive re-establishment of order.
| "Our duty specially forbids us to aban-
/ don the Cretan people to the mercy OF
! Mussulman fanaticism and the Turkish
army which, at all times, has deliberately
ana Intentionally participated in the ag-
gressve acts of the populace against the
! Christians Above all. If our troops on
the island, who are worthy of all the con-
fdence of the powers have received a
mandate to pacify the country, their de-
sires and intentions would have received
promptly the most perfect satisfaction.
1t would be, then, after the re-establish-
ment of order that it would be possible
to learn the desires freely expressed Of
the Cretan people for q decision as to
| their fate.
"The sorrows which have recurred reg
ularly in Crete for many decades past not
only do not occur without profoundly agi-
tatlng the Hellenic people, but they also
interrupt social activity and gravely dis
turb the economy and finances Of the state.
Even II we admit that 1t would be possible
to forget for an instant that we share
the common religion of Crete, that we are
OF the same race, and bound by ties Of