196 



CRETE. 



complishment. In St. Petersburg alone was he re- 

 ceived with much show of sympathy, and in that 

 capital he obtained a vague platonic approval of 

 annexation at some more fitting moment. In 

 London he met with a decided rebuff: in Koine, 

 with a consequential negative in courteous form; 

 in Paris, with a discouraging reply that indicated 

 the real sentiments of Russia. As an alternative 

 to immediate open annexation to the Hellenic 

 Kingdom he suggested a veiled annexation through 

 the substitution of Greek troops for the interna- 

 tional garrison. The powers promised to take his 

 proposals under advisement, and to give him a 

 concerted reply. Accordingly a conference was 

 held in Rome between the representatives of Eng- 

 land, France, and Russia accredited to that capi- 

 tal and the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

 Their formal decision was delivered to the Prince 

 on Feb. 22, 1001, in the shape of a unanimous 

 declaration of the four powers. In this document 

 they stated that, while ready to examine with 

 sympathy every proposition made to them with 

 the object of ameliorating the condition of the 

 island, they could not in the existing circum- 

 stances sanction any modification of the political 

 situation in the sense indicated by the expose 

 of Prince Georgios. He was requested to discour- 

 age all manifestations in the island looking to a 

 change in the status quo, as such manifestations 

 could not in any degree be taken into considera- 

 tion by the powers. 



One of the most prominent Cretan politicians 

 proposed the establishment of an autonomous 

 principality. The Cretan Constitution, of which 

 M. Venezelos, who brought forward this proposal 

 in a meeting of the Prince's Council, was one of 

 the chief framers, contemplated such a develop- 

 ment. His colleague, M. Koundouros, in 1899 

 advocated a permanent principality hereditary in 

 the male line of Prince Georgios. That would be 

 the solution most pleasing to the Sultan, and 

 Hellenes suspected that their own King and the 

 Russian imperial family were not averse to seeing 

 Prince Georgios the founder of a separate dynasty. 

 That was not the idea of M. Venezelos, who in- 

 tended to suggest a transitory autonomy, though 

 probably with the view of preserving for Crete, 

 when the island shall be merged eventually in 

 the Hellenic Kingdom, the advantages of its su- 

 perior economic and financial conditions by re- 

 serving a large measure of local self-government, 

 as is the desire of all intelligent Cretans. The 

 proposal of M. Venezelos, when made public by 

 one of his enemies, brought upon his head a storm 

 of denunciation, and the Prince dismissed from 

 his Council the man so decried as a renegade and 

 a traitor to the cause of Hellenism. 



The elections for the Boule were held in April. 

 Noisy demonstrations in favor of union with 

 Greece were held everywhere, but this question 

 furnished no issue, for there was none who would 

 care to oppose the earliest possible union with- 

 out reserve. Neither were there any opponents 

 of the Prince, who was the standard-bearer of the 

 holy cause. The Prince's ministers, however, were 

 the objects of universal reprobation. They were 

 charged with incompetence, favoritism, corruption, 

 and extravagance. They were accused of wast- 

 ing the public funds on useless objects, yet tak- 

 ing no steps to provide the public works for which 

 the people clamored. The elections resulted in a 

 complete victory for the Opposition party, which 

 elected 53 members, besides 4 Mussulmans, while 

 only 6 Ministerialists were returned, and these 

 so dubious that after the Chamber met they 

 went over to the Opposition, leaving the Prince's 

 Council without one trusty supporter. The 



friends of M. Venezelos and ex-President Spakia- 

 nakis secured 30 seats. Prince Georgios appointed 

 10 members whose votes he could control. 



The Chamber was convened on June 1. The 

 ministers, who held office at the Prince's pleasure, 

 showed no intention of resigning. The Prince in 

 his opening speech promised that means would 

 be provided for the institution of public works 

 and the encouragement of agriculture. He trans- 

 mitted the injunction of the powers, recommend- 

 ing the Cretans to rely on their sincere desire to 

 take into account the legitimate wishes of the 

 people and to abstain from premature and inop- 

 portune demonstrations. The Prince expressed 

 the sentiment that the Cretans would appreciate 

 the generous solicitude of the powers, and as soon 

 as he had left the hall a resolution was offered 

 expressing gratitude to the powers, and requesting 

 them to crown their noble and philanthropic work 

 by granting union with Greece. The newly elected 

 members wished to remove the conception formed 

 outside of Crete that they were less eager than 

 their predecessors for union, or that they upheld 

 the transitional scheme of M. Venezelos. The 

 president of the Chamber put the resolution and 

 declared it carried by the loud acclamations with 

 which it was greeted, shutting off Deputies who 

 rose to speak, including the Mussulmans, whose 

 objections were afterward set down in writing 

 and handed to the consuls. The Moslems were 

 satisfied with the rule of Prince Georgios, but 

 strongly opposed to union, mainly because they 

 dreaded any change involving the departure of 

 the international troops. There were only 33,000 

 left in Crete, and these began to make preparations 

 to migrate when the Athenian and Cretan press 

 confidently announced early in the year that the 

 powers had decided in favor of union. The lot 

 of these Moslems was not untroubled, notwith- 

 standing the protection of the Prince and of the 

 consuls, but it was tolerable, and this wealthy 

 and industrious minority who once formed the 

 ruling caste, now adapted themselves modestly to 

 Christian supremacy, even refraining from elect- 

 ing their true proportion of Deputies, submitting 

 to the arbitrary suppression of their electoral 

 rights, and in many cases voting for Christians in 

 order to keep on good terms with their neighbors, 

 only resisting the pressure that was frequently 

 exerted on them to induce them to change their 

 religion. 



Prince Georgios took it upon himself to present 

 to the consuls the resolution of the Boule in favor 

 of union with Greece, and the consuls, acting on 

 instructions from their governments, returned the 

 document into his hands. The relations between 

 the High Commissioner and the' representatives 

 of the powers became strained in consequence of 

 their refusal to accept the address of the Boule 

 praying for union. On June 18 an identical declara- 

 tion of the four guaranteeing powers was deliv- 

 ered to Prince Georgios, in which the powers de- 

 clared their firm resolve to maintain the status 

 quo established under their auspices, taking into 

 consideration the general political situation, and 

 that of Crete in particular, as well as the engage- 

 ments they had contracted with the Sultan. They 

 considered this situation to be best adapted to the 

 interests of the country, its condition being far 

 from normal, notwithstanding the progress al- 

 ready effected, and they appealed to the" Prince 

 to continue to exercise the mandate they had con- 

 fided to him, and desired to know his intentions 

 as soon as possible in view of the gravity of the 

 interests at stake. In presenting this declaration 

 the consuls conveyed the verbal explanations that 

 any infringement of the rights of the Sultan might 



