The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-09
CONCILIATORY IN IT'S TONE.
Ready to Withdraw the Fleet From Crete. But
Not the Army.
London Times Sees Nothing in the Answer to
Prevent the Powers From Apply
ing Coercion.

NEW YORK, March "a special to
| the Herald from Constantinople says:
According to a telegraphic communi-
cation received here from Crete. a
rumor is circulating there that the
| German ironclad Kaiserin Augusta,
| after having fired a blank shot as a
signal to the Greek ironclad Hydra to
discontinue her course, received a fun
! hroadside from the Hydra
ATHENS, March 9-The reply Of
Greece to the powers was finally draft
ed this morning and was sent to the
| foreign legations this afternoon. The
cabinet sat all night in council the
ministers not returning to their homes
until after daybreak today. The reply.
after acknowledging the receipt Of the
identical notes of the powers and recog-
nizing the extreme gravity of possible
results bound up in the situation, pro-
ceeds as follows:
The government of his majesty
King George, having examined with the
closest attention the points Whereon
| the great powers are agreed, believes
it a duty to submit to the powers its
own opinion of the measures proposed
by them, an opinion which is the out
come of long experience and profound
knowledge of the Cretan situation.
Moved, profoundly, by the senti-
ments animating the powers and their
SCllcitude for the general peace the
Greek government will not fail in it's
duty, because Greece alsa has an ar
dent desire to contribute to the main
tenance of peace and to preserve from
complete ruin islanders so long and
sorely tried and so often decimated
We believe that the proposed autonomy
will unfortunately fail to respond to
the nobler intentions which inspired it,
and will suffer the same fate as many
previous unsuccessful experiments in
! Crete"
The reply then refers to six previous
| instructions in Crete, and argues the,
likelihood that the present proposals
of the powers will terminate in state
of revolution. 1t continues:
Anarchy will ravage the contry; fire
and sword in the hands of blind fan
aticism will decimate a people who do
not deserve such a fate In the face
of such a. prospect, our responsibility
would be enormous if we failed earn
eStly to urge the powers to restore
to Crete what she has already had
at the time of the enfranchisement of
the other Greek provinces and to lead
| her back to Greece to whom she has
! properly belonged since Capo Istrias
was president
I'm the presence of the recent scenes
! of massacre and pillage, the burning
| of Canea and the frightful anguish or
the Cretans, exposed to and menaced
| by the bOundless fury of Mussulmans
/ nYJ y1a.n1n
| morse for it's own responsibility. 1t as
! sumed last year to persuade the Cret-
ans to lay down their arms, but the
misfortunes which followed forbid us
again to undertake such a task Even
had we attempted it, our voice would
| have been only a feeble echo and
would not have reached the Cretan
| people.
'As autonomy would not fulfill the
| noble aim of the powers, it is obVi-
Gus what must be the situation Of the
unhappy islanders from today until the
| establishment of autonomy If the
| powers persevere in their decisions in
| the face of the foregoing views, then
| in the name of humanity as we'll as in
| the interests of Crete, the pacifying Of
which is the unique object of the sole
| itude of the powers, we do not heSi-
tate to appeal to them on the subject
! OF another measure proposed by thenI
| namely, the recall of our troops.
Indeed, If the presence Of the for
| eign squadrons and the conviction that
| they prevent the landing of Turkish
| troops are deemed to render unneces-
| sary the presence of the Grrek fleet
| in Cretan waters, the presence of the
! Greek army in Crete is neVert heleSs
| shown to be desirable alike from SEN
timentS of humanity and in the in
terest Of a definite restoration of order
Duty forbids US to abandon the
Cretans to the mercy of Mussulman
fanaticism and to the Turkish army
which always deliberat tely and inten-
tionally had shared in the aggressive
acts of the populace against the Chris
tians.
Moreover, if our own troops, which
are worthy the fullest confidence OF
the powers, had received a mandate to
pacify the island, their desires and in
tentionS would have been promptly re-
ceived with the most perfect satisfac-
ton. Then, order being restored. it
would be possible to ascertain the free
ly expressed desires of the Cretans for
decision as to their fate. The sor-
rows which have regularly recurred in
Crete for many decades not only pro-
foundly agitate the Hellenic people, but
interrupt also all social activity and
gravely disturb our domestic economy
and the finances. of the state. Even if
we admit the possibility of forgetting
for a single instant our community
with the Cretans in religion, race and
blood, we could not in silence allow the
great powers to assume that the Greek
state is able longer to resist sucn
shocks
Therefore, we appeal to the generous
sentiments animating the powers and
we beg them to permit the Cretan peO-
pie themselves to declare how they de-
sire to be governed.
-"skouses.'
On the text of the reply becoming
generally known through the city the
populace exhibited great excitement,
and on all sides there were heated dis
cussions Of the consequences likely to
follow. The warship Hydra has al
ready been called from Cretan waters,
leaving only two small Greek vessels
in that quarter. This is regarded as
a virtual yielding to the powers so far
as the fleet is concerned
1t is said, however, that the powers
cannot now shut the door against fur
ther negotiations. The cabinet, it Is
understood, was unanimous as to the
terms of the reply, the text of which