Читать книгу The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 18, March 11, 1897 - Various - Страница 4

Vol. 1  March 11, 1897.  No. 18

There is startling news from Crete.

Greece has openly defied the warning of the Powers, and has declared her intention of assisting the little island, and freeing her from the Turkish rule.

All Europe is ringing with the spirited reply sent by Greece to the demand that she should submit to the wishes of Europe, and give up her warlike intentions toward Turkey.

This reply was short and to the point. It was simply this:

"Greece accepts full responsibility for all her acts."

Her first act after sending this brave message was to fire on a Turkish vessel, and thus openly to declare war upon the Turks.

The Turkish vessel was carrying arms to the besieged garrison at Canea. As she moved from her anchorage in the harbor of Candia, she was hailed by a Greek warship, and ordered to return to her moorings.

The Turkish vessel, the Fuad, paid no attention to the order, and was continuing on her way, when a shot from the Greek ship brought her to a stand. Having no guns of her own with which to defend herself, the Fuad decided that the sensible thing was to obey; so she put about, and returned to her moorings.

The commander of the British fleet sent a formal protest to the Greeks against this action, and again ordered them to stop attacking the Turks.

No attention was paid to this request.

The Powers are, however, so afraid of war, that they are doing all that is possible to prevent Greece from taking any action that will make war inevitable.

Russia, Great Britain, France, and Italy have all sent warships to Crete, with orders to enforce peace between Greece and Turkey.

The combined fleets of these great nations have formed a cordon around the harbor of Canea, and have blockaded the port, to prevent the Greek squadron, under Prince George, from entering the harbor.

A cordon is a line of men, ships, or forts, so stationed as to prevent people from going into, or coming out of the place.

Having done this, the four great Powers proceeded to take possession of the island, and intend to try and hold it until some settlement is made between Greece and Turkey.

One hundred men from each of the four fleets have been landed at Canea, and, with the consent of the Turkish authorities, have raised their flags over the fortress of the city, as a sign that Crete is under their protection.

Greece, in the mean while, has sent word to the Powers that she intends to occupy Crete. She is sending troops there, and raising volunteers and filling out her reserve force, to be ready for war, if war comes.

This defiance on the part of Greece is worrying the rest of the Powers. She is too small and insignificant to attempt to brave the wrath of Europe alone, and there is an uneasy feeling that some one of the great nations must be secretly backing her.

As usual, when anything goes wrong in Europe, Russia is blamed. Russia has so long been the naughty girl of Dame Europa's school, that the moment mischief is in the air Russia is suspected.

If she is in this new trouble, she will have hard work to escape punishment. She has been posing as the dear friend and protector of Turkey for the last few weeks, and has put stumbling-blocks in the way of the other Powers when they have attempted to force the Sultan of Turkey to do as they wished.

If she has suddenly veered round, and is now encouraging Greece against Turkey, her conduct will be hard to explain.

It will be interesting to watch what comes of this, for it seems that the Bismarck revelations, about which you can read in No. 4 of The Great Round World, have brought many strange things to light in European politics.

You will remember that it was found that Germany had a secret understanding with Russia, which quite undid her open agreement with Austria and Italy—the Triple Alliance, as it was called.

Now it appears that nearly all the European nations have been playing the same sly game.

It would seem that most of them have secret, underhand agreements to play false to their best friends, whenever it suits their purpose.

Every one is sure that Greece has some strong country at her back to make her so bold, and while all the diplomats are wondering which it can be, no one dares to ask any questions. There is so much treachery and deceit going on, that each ambassador is afraid that any inquiry on his part may lead to the discovery of things about his country that would better be kept in the dark.

This daring attitude of Greece may involve the whole of Europe in a vast war, and it may be passed quietly over, and Greece be allowed to snatch her prize from under Turkey's nose, and walk away unharmed with it, because none of the other nations dare to call "police!" for fear of being arrested themselves.

All sorts of rumors are flying around. One is that the Powers are not really angry with Greece, and that if the bold little country can take possession of Crete and hold it, the Powers will not let her be interfered with.

It is also said that Turkey does not want Crete very badly, and will let Greece take it and keep it, if she will only promise not to interfere with Macedonia, which is another ancient Greek province, inhabited by Christians, and now under the control of Turkey. Macedonia is on the borders of modern Greece.

Outwardly, the Powers are very fierce over the whole matter, and have warned Greece that if she does not withdraw her army from Crete in two days, they will make war upon her.

Greece is, however, taking her own way very quietly and decidedly.

While the four combined fleets of Europe are keeping Prince George at bay at Canea, fifteen hundred Greek soldiers under Colonel Vassos have been safely landed in Crete, at Platania about sixty miles from Canea.

This battalion, which is made up of artillery, engineers, and infantry, is called the "Corps of Occupation," and Greece went wild with joy when the report of its safe arrival reached Athens.

The commander of the corps, Colonel Vassos, is reported to have issued a proclamation to the Cretans, in which he says that the troubles in Crete have been deeply felt by their brother Greeks. The Cretans are but one nation with the Greeks, despite the fact that they are under a foreign rule, and Greece can no longer allow a people of her race and religion to be under the Turkish rule; she has therefore decided to occupy the island, and add it to the country ruled by the King of Greece.

The proclamation goes on to say that Colonel Vassos, in the name of the King of Greece, promises to protect the lives, honor, and property of the inhabitants, and to bring peace and law to them.

He then demanded of the Turks that they surrender, and give up the island.

While this was going on, the combined Powers, through their ambassadors in Greece, demanded that the Greek warships be withdrawn from Crete under pain of Europe's displeasure.

They promised that the Turkish reforms should be properly enforced in Crete, and that, in the conference which will follow as soon as the fear of war is passed, the Powers will consider the question of reuniting Greece and Crete.

There is a rumor that the Powers will get home rule for Crete, and that the Emperor William of Germany is trying his best to bring this last scheme about.

Matters are very far from settlement. Volunteers are rallying to the Greek flag in great numbers, and all Greece is echoing to the cries of excited patriotism.