New-York tribune., 1909-07-26
THE PR0BLEu OF CRETE.

To-day will presumably mark another Of those
crises or epochs which have been numerous in
Cretan history and of which the succession APP
pears to be interminable This is the day which
has been set--irrevocably, we are told-for the
withdrawal Of all the forces of the four protect
ing powers from that island. In place of the
troops each of the powers will place and main
tain warship in Suda Bay. to protect the
flags of the powers and that of Turkey. 10
protect the Cretan Mussulmans and TO assure
the supreme rights Of the Sultan on the island
It is added that ''the powers reserve to them
selves the choice of an opportune moment for
negotiating with the Sublime Porte concerning
"the future regime of the island" All of which
sounds very plausible and very correct In
diplomatic sense, but as a matter of plain fact is
largely formal emptiness and is satisfactory to
none of the parties concerned.
THE flags of the powers and that of Turkey
might be supposed to be flying all over the ISL
and The truth is that they do not appear
there at all, but are displayed only on an I'M
inhabited rock in Suda Bay. 1t may be that
some wicked Cret8n would paddle out thither
and pull them down If it We're not for the four
warships As for the supreme rights of the
Sultan" they are purely theoretical There is not
one Turkish official the island. Not a cent
of tribute is paid TO Turkey. Even the postage
stamps which are used are not Turkish but
Greek. the official language is Greek, the islands
flag displays the blue ana white of Greece. the
militia and gendarmerie are under Greek off
GERS the Greek legal code is in force in the in
sular courts, and the Governor of the island is
q former Prime Minister Of Greece. There Is
nothing Turkish save that one solitary flag,
marooned on the rock in Suda Bay. And seeing
that practically all the people Greek, the
purest Greek in the world. purer than in Attica
itself it might be said that all that is as it
should be-
But nobody is pleased Turkey is not, for she
thinks that after her great awakening and re-
forms and the granting of a constitution and
the establishment cf an enlightened popular gov
ernment in which there are no distinctions of
race or creed her possessions ought TO be re-
stored to her. Greece is not, for she believes
that historic, sentimental, racial, religious,
linguistic, geographical and all other grounds
Crete should be annexed to her outright. Crete
is nor pleased, for her people pretty generally
agree with the Greeks, and all think that they
should be permitted TO have their own sweet
way, unhampered and unawed by even so much
the four warships guarding the flags the
rock in Suda Bay. OF course, if the four powers
should keep hands off, there would quickly be
a smash of some sort 1t might take the form
cf Cretan insurrection in favor of annexation
to Greece, which Turkey would presently sup
press with some difficulty and with much blood
shed 1t might be another Greek war against
Turkey, in which Greece would get badly beaten
again Certainly the powers want neither Of
these things and that is why after their with
drawaI Of their troops to-day they will continue
TO keep their warships around that rock in Suda
Bay awaiting an opportune moment for deter
mining the permanent disposition of the island,
a moment which may arrive before the Greek
KaIends