CUKTK. 



sists of barren mountain.* thinl is tillable land that 

 remains uncultivated. and a third i* rulii \ated rude- 

 ly, but produces *U| - ami other fru 



li Crete has been celebrated from ancient 

 Orchards of orange, -.-I almond trees 



abound in the valley*. Olive oil and olives are the 

 chief export*. Grapes of roan? varieties are grown, 

 and raisins ami wine are important products. 

 The untrustworthy census Uken in ISM by order 



.itiades Pasha gave a foul population < : 

 1ft".. of whom 905.010 were rt h.-d.-x J reeks. 78,284 

 v . , . . .;; : . . : ..- 



lies, 18 Protestants, and 8 Ar 

 ent |mpulati..n MH hides about 900,000 Christians 

 nil llO.OiiO Mohammedans. All .1 few 



AraU and Africans and other foreigners in the 

 coast towns are of the Greek race. The Mohatu- 

 medan Cretans are descendants of those Greeks who 

 .-mbrncvd Mam when the island was conquered 

 fr*>m the Venetians in 1000 and were rewarded with 

 lands and made the ruling and military class. > 

 -f i he Cretan beys are still large landowners. There 

 are also many small proprietors among t he Mussul- 

 mans who are frugal ana industrious olive growers. 



' to the spread of education among tin- chris- 

 tians these have outstripped tl.. 

 industry, and professional pursuits wiihin the pe- 

 riod since all have stood on the same civil and po- 

 footing. and the latter feel sore over the loss 

 of their predominance and prestige and the reversal 

 of their ancient relations to the Christians, 



Crete revolted with the other Greek islands in. 

 1881, but was restored t.. Turkey in is:w by the 

 Treaty. .f I^ndon. In 1866 there was a formidable 

 uprising that lasted two years, the suppression ..f 

 which cost the Turkish fcNMSjfj over $30.00o.mo. 

 and which resulted in the Banting in 1868 of a new 

 organic law promising liberal concessions to the 

 Christians. In the Treaty of Berlin the Porte un- 

 dertook to apply this organic law, which till then 

 had remained nugatory, reserving the right to in- 

 troduce modifications. The delay in the execution 

 of this clause led to another insurrection. The 

 Porte sent Mukhtar Pasha, with power to grant 

 tain privileges in pursuance of the law. Negotia- 

 tions between the Turkish commissioner and <1 !< - 

 rates of the Christians resulted in the pact of II..- 

 lepa, signed Oct. 15, 18.78, by the terms of which the 

 Governor was to be a ( Mmn and the island was 

 endowed with a limited degree of autonomy. I-Yc-h 

 uprisings took place, in consequence of which the 

 pact of Halepa was suspended in 1889. 



The Cretan Constitution was very liberal in its 

 provisions. There was a General Assembly, which 

 met every year, and which was elected by the whole 

 population. The imposts and duties were carefully 

 limited, and the expenditure was under popular 

 control. There was a f'hri-tian governor for 



ian district, assisted by a council ,,f Chri-- 

 ti*m,and for every Mussulman district there was a 

 Muflsulman governor, with whom was associated a 

 Christian deputv governor as coadjutor. There 

 was also a gendarmerie supposed to be recruited 

 from Christians and Mussulmans indifferent lv. 

 n was safeguarded by the absolute 



The Plan of Refonu. During the Cretan in- 

 surrection of 1890 the six great powers Knglnnd. 

 Austria-Hungary. Prance, Germany. Italy, and 

 sia recommended to the Sultan ;,nd h,-' adopted a 

 scheme of reforms based on the demand* of the 

 ian Deputies tan Assembly. The 



scheme provide*! for a Christian governor general 

 to be appointed for five years by tin- Sultan with 

 the consent of the power- : th. governor general to 

 have the right of red l.y the As- 



sembly except such as introduce modifications of 



the tiact of Halcpa.and to appoint all secondary of- 

 ficial-. cr posts to be filled by the Sultan, 



Chn-' Rye two thirds and Mohamm< 



one third of the offices; elections to the Assembly 

 and the Sessions of that body to he held biennially. 

 id of annually; the Assembly to vote t 1 

 tl liudget, control accounis. ;in<l vote I'ilK sul- 

 nutted l>\ ' neral or l>\ hcput 



an absoinr, . > a ve bills modifying th< 



in fon-r and reouiring under I he ll;i 

 a two-third ma ,n in- 



crease in the expenditure l<> \- disru.*ed unl< -- in- 

 trodncrd by the ^'..\ , M! , ,r the conij 



dej.artiucnt : the pn.\ IS|,,MS ,,f t|,,. linii;in ol 



revenue t 



input into force, and the Cretan- t.. aoq 

 it tothe revenue from imported tol 00m- 



ioii eojnpriMii^ Mumpean officers to reor^. 

 the u'cndarnierh- ; another c.niiniis-ii.n CIMI|.I- 

 Muro|.i-aii l.-iwyi-rs to >tudy the re|..mi of t|,, 

 inini.-traiioii of jusii.-e. ri'u'ht- -ut of the 



capitulations beini; re-er\i-d ; no law t., be j.ut into 

 unl.-- vnted by the Assembly; the publica- 

 tion of b.Niks and in i he establishment of 



printing presses, ami the foundation of scientific so- 

 cieiies to be subject to the authorisation of tic 



erniru'en-ral in ai-i-, -rdaiice wit h t he law; m. i 

 of Cyrene to be allowed to emigrate and >ttle in 

 the island without the authority of the governor; 

 and the (ieiieral Assembly to be convetiecl within 

 six month-, and elections ordered in accordance 

 with the lawof 1888. the governor p-ncral conjoint- 

 l with the Administrathe Council re^ulati: 



tne meantime the execution of the reform- by m 

 of provisional ordin.i 



The ambassadors at Constantinople, who 

 up this scheme of reforms, recommended 

 surtax to rai-e moDey to pay imlemnitio f<.r lo-^,.^ 

 -u-taini-l during the insurrection, the payment to 

 be supervised by the consuls. While i h< 

 which were intended to establi-h friendly relations 

 between the two sections of tin population. 

 being considered by the amba-sadors ami the Sul- 

 tan. the state of affairs in the island became im.iv 

 and more unsatisfactory, and the Greeks of the 

 Hellenic kingdom fomented the agitation. To 

 prevent further disturbance from thi- <|i. 

 eral powers considered it necessary to tak. : 

 ures again . On July 27, 1896, the 



trian ambassador at London proposed to l-"il 

 Salisbury that the powers press the Greek Govern- 

 ment to'pn-vent the dispatch of volunteers, arms 

 and munitions from 



the (Ji-i-.-k lioxernineiit should declare its inability 

 to prevent arm- and men from bein^ sent to the in- 

 _'!,at ?> powers should agree 

 to institute a blockade of thi- Cretan coast. 



Count (Joined iicd the power- al-o to in- 



timate their intention to the Sultan his 



liberty of action " if the exi-tinu' situation contin- 

 ued, and to state plainly that the responsibility for 



the coli-c(,jiicnces would rest with those wh< 



hampered the efforts of Kuropc for the re-tr, ration 

 of peace. To these proposals Lord Salisbury re- 

 fused to accede, the reason alleged bein^' tl 



:-art in -uch a blockade would | 

 Uritain in the position of an ally of the Sultan in 

 the ta-k of repressing the in-urrcct ion of his Chri-- 

 tian -ulijec-is Owin^ to the opjK>sition of ( 

 liritain the idea of a blockad. M up. and 



new efforts were made to obtain the Sultan's sanc- 

 tion to the pr<i|xed reforms, which was obtained 

 in August, and early in September the Chi; 

 and the Mohammedan Peputies in Crete acc 

 the scheme in behalf of their respective parties. 



Kcneual of IH-tnrhanccH. Though the settle- 

 ment of the Cretan difficulty proposed by the pow- 



