| Show THE bretan oretan CRETAN revolution the cretan question gains in importance by the persistency courage and success with which the canadians Cand ians maintain the contest against foes so much superior to them numerically still the reports from the seat of war do not have the freshness of novelty even though thou glAthey they are but bue few which characterized them some months ago all SI I 1 that we learn of the matter from the th 0 dispatches is an occasional reference to the progress of the revolution or the announcement of something the great Eul eui european powers have to say ordo or do concerning it Ae cording according to one of these not long since russia franco prance and britain had concluded not to interfere between turkey greece and andia candia 01 which if true is simply another exposition of that policy which permitted poland roland to be blotted from the lapof map of europe while its dismembered dismember red portions swelled the territorial bounds of russia austria and prussia sla sia nevertheless the cretans cretan declare demare their thein intent intention on cuing the contest until kii III they secure their severance from turkey and their union unton with gree greece i q and great as the odds are against which they have to contend the turks have found in them thenia a determined and active enemy en enly eniy well capable of continuing the unequal contest with prospects of being victorious in the end so serious has the nor non porte te deemed the revolt that tha omar tOmar pasha admi admittedly itterly the best general of the k turkish arm army y was not long since assigned to the command of the forces operating in candia and nd it has been reported by telegraph grAph within a few days thag that yio lie ehas has been defeated de featO the turkish army in crete is estimated between forty and fifty thousand men men while the organized organ I 1 t zed zea force forgo of the i insurgents Insurgent 4 greeks cretans cremans and hn d volunteers is under ten thousand jn 14 num bers then the disparity is fearful but taut the insurgents have the thia advantage of strong ro positions in the mountains from which the turks have wn been unable to tor dislow dislodge e them and while the war Is carried carnie g alth vigor on both bith sides the cretans caetans declare that now they will be e satisfied with nothing short orthe turkish rule ruie being entirely withdrawn and the th island eIsland being united to greece nine years sears ye ago go in 1858 the tiie candian canadians Cand ians lans sought byi by appeal to the sultan fora foxa fox for a restoration of rights of which they had r blen been d deprived ar I 1 ve d and nh io for r th the e h honoring onori n g and fuI ful fulfilling fillin F of a deere decree e 0 of f lem iem 1856 which professedly fes sedly guaranteed relict religious 46 liberty to all christian subjects of the po porte rua rue at the gairie harrie time professing their willingness to remain loyal to him in june of the same year a decree was issued which promised them a fulfillment of their requests but this decree was soon practically ignored and they were again If orceil to endure the tyranny and oppression complained of before thus matters continued until april 1866 when representatives of the people assembled in a deliberative body and after consultation respectfully prepared another address to the sultan making some very moderate demands of rights most of which huma humanity tilty and interest should have dictated the granting gran tino fino of without their having to he be asked for but after three three months delay they were refused and gie yie representative representatives 8 were commanded to disperse to their homes or they would be dispersed by force of arms to arms then they appealed and the contest has raged since with varying but mostly on the side of the insurgents greek volunteers aided and still aid them and numbers of the destitute families of the insurgents have been carried to greece in neutral ves tes vessels seis sels although the turks have kept up a nominal brocade blo cade thus thua the question stands today to day and apart from the inhere interest t which C it 1 is S ea elicited c t d by a people contending for liberty against almost overwhelming odds there Is the interest attached to this revolution that it may eventually y stir up the very difficult PE astern eastern question and give it an aspect even more inore forbidding din 9 i than it wore over the affair of the holy sepulchre 13 if russia francq france and britain have concluded not to interfere ter fere leaving greece and candia to contend with their common enemy the most plausible solution that presents itself of their so doing is that russia believes greece can still more weaken turkey now tottering with feebleness and that thelong coveted territory will then fall into her hands much easier and cheaper than by provoking a war with britain and france for it is 1 scarcely credible that the i policy of rus russia sla sia for an ext extension enslo ensio n towards india can have been foregone by so astute shrewd and ambitious a monarch as alexander has proved himself to be those powers may deem it policy for the preset present it to let the christians of crete battle unaided against their former masters I 1 except whatever assistance they receive from greece but that part of the turkish empire known as asia asla minor is destined coplay to play so important 4 a part in the history ora of ofa a not very distant future that it 19 is probable diplomacy may fall fali fail fall to preserve their being embroiled in some somer way concerning or with the power that now holds possession of it alid whether the ostensible cause of that embodiment be the I 1 holy sepulchre the cretan revolution or something ug else one thing is certain that instead of less leab there must be more liberty enjoyed in that if not in other parts of turkey before the prophecies cles cies can be fulfilled and another thing seems almost certain eer taiti tain that mat concessions of liberty must be wrung from fion 1 the porte jorte or palestine must pass into other hands i before the de degree gree of liberty requisite for the gathering of the jews to rebuild jerusalem can be secured this cretan question may seem to some a trifling one but it 1 is not the number engaged in the revolution that gives it the significance which it possesses it is the fact that grave in interests terestA may be touched before it is got through with which wilh stir to activity the ibe great p powers ow ers and also that a prin principe elpe cipe is involved which is 1 s not no f circumscribed b by the waters aters of the mediterranean tha wash the sholes shores of crete crote the great principle of mental liberty the right to worship god free and trammeled uri udd the liht right to be a man before the maker of men and that principle grows daily it gains ground slowly but surely it is being felt through all the nations of the old oid worl world dand and it shakes the provinces of the turkish empire where christians reside until the whole fabric feels the convulsions we cannot h help heip elp watching with interest anything that bears so directly on the condition and future prospects of syria or the holy land seeing that BO so many predictions concerning it stud the pages of the prophets Ire lre predictions dictions that must have their thel ir fulfillment before many years have passed away |
