CRETE. 



Russia bare come to an agreement on the two fol- 



ints: 

 1. Crete can in no cane, in the present nrvum- 



- ./ . .:. . \. ;,... 



f the delays caused by Turkey in 



<>f ti n '""- 



with the powers, which ii\\ mak. n IIII|H.S- 

 Able t<> adapt tluwe r.-f.-nn- t- MI ion 



of a fin in-, tin- i resolved, while maintain- 



\w Ottoman Kmpirc. t. endow 



III! abs. . itiillolliol; 



miiiMrntioii. u asei*rat. 



eminent, under the high suzerainty of the Sultan. 

 are convinced that these views can 



lidrawaloftheG 

 aiwf troops now in the waters and on 1 1 



of the i -land which is occupied by 1 1 \\ 



eoordinglv confident! v expect thisdecitioa fr<>ni the 

 wisdom of his Majesty's Government, which can not 

 wih to persist in a course opposed to the d<>< 

 of the power*, who n mcd to carry out an 



n. which is as necessary for < 

 a- it i- f.>r 1 1..- maintenance of general peace. 

 - I will not. however, conceal from > 



hat I am instructed to warn you that, in case 



-.-il of the . cnimcnt. the great 



rs have arrived at the irrevocable decision not 



to shrink from any measure of compulsion if, on 



\piratioii -. the recall of the i 



ships and troops from Crete has not been effected." 

 A collective note of the san resented to 



the Porte announced the decision against (I reek 

 annexation and in favor of an Hiitoiiomoiis admin- 

 istration, or rfgimr. at which the great powers had 

 arrival, stating that, animated by the d. 

 sure the maintenai. i to see the in- 



tegrity "f the ottoman Empire respected, they had 

 sought for the means of ending the disorders that 

 have led to their armed intervention in Crete, as 

 well as of putting an end to the presence of the 

 Greek forces in the island, l.ut now recogni/ed that. 

 in consequence of the delay in applying them, the 

 reforms contemplated in the arrangement of 

 25. 1896, no longer correspond to the requirement 

 ..f the situation. A further collective note, dated 

 March 5, notified the Porte that, as the autonomy 

 to be established in Crete implied the progr. 

 reduction of the Ottoman forces, it would be neces- 

 sarv as soon as th* island was evacuated by the 

 :iic troops to take measures for the com -entra- 

 f the mi | Aerial troops in the fortified places 

 occupied l.y Kuro|K>ati detachm- 



A mutiny of the Turkish gendarmes who were 



about to be disbanded occurred at Canea on March >. 



The men refused to give up their arm- unless they 



month*' pay due them, and when 



Major Bor,samnKmingtonfoaidaffiiafd of ma- 



anded thorn to lay down their arms and pro- 

 ceeded to take their weapons from them, the men. 

 of whom there were 45. fired several -hots killing 

 Suleiman Bey. a Turkish officer in Major i 

 suite, \V .ssj;,n detachment of marines 



killing 4 of the mutin. era, they surrendered. 

 When th.- i--, pie of Athens knew that the ,,/f,'- 

 mahtmot the ; : l*.. n presented, a crowd 



of 80.000 gathered about the palace, waving flags 

 nd ?l lyannifl had tin- 



day before den the bombardment of the 



Christians as savage, impious, and unjust, and de- 

 clared that the bl.-cknde of Crete was contrary to 

 international law. and that (Jnek representatives 

 abroad had protested against it. mall 



nation," he sai <n not prevent 



but we protest against them with the weight of a 

 great nation, for we know that all great p. 



:ir-t act ol liovern- 



ment after receiving the collective note was to call 



i more classes of reserves, making loin all. each 



:ueii. There were r, i-s on the 



Bfaoedonian frontiii ammunit ion. provi- 



. and mil: i \\ith all 



speed to Thessalv.u ncentration of tr.>p^ 



WaS | piled to the lifst c.-l- 



..ii March ">. ackno\\ 



illg the solicitude of the |i.i \\ers for the int. 



of the Ottoman Kmpirc. and declarini: the I' 



to adopt their ivcomincii-.. 



autiiiiomx. for the prevent the i-oiiMdera- 



tio||ofd<' ; iv to I lie nlftniiif inn, 



deiivcred on March H. when tin'- lim<- expired, 

 a> follows: 



" In view of : :dinary gravity of tho re- 



sults that will follow. I nu nt 



- duty to rabmil to the powers 



its o|>inion of the m. ;i-tir > decided up-.n. an opin- 

 ion which i the re-ult of loi .itid a 

 profound ac<)uaintance with the situation in 



Impressed l>y the sentiments thai animate the 

 powers, and their solicitude for general peace, the 



I (Government will not fail in this duly. 

 Greece also ardently des ntrttrate to the 



main' ' . and to save from utter ruin 



the population of an inland put to so severe a trial 

 and so often decimated. 



"We lielieve that the new autonomy 



adopted ly the powers unhappilv <-an not c. .iTe-p.nd 

 to trie nolile intent ions that inspired it. and that it 

 will suffer tin- fate of the different administrative 

 systems which at various times and without success 

 been tried in Crete. 



:. is is not the \\v>\ time that Crete finds her- 

 self in a state of insurrection. In recent times on 

 more than cms the horrors of anarchy have 



shaken and imperiled her exist 



"If. then, the new //,/////, with which it ^ pro- 

 posed to endow her is not calculated to re-estallish 



order in a definitive manner, ti \ernment. 



can not doubt the impossibility of putting an end 



by means of it to the present state of revolution. 



Anarchy will continue to ravage the country with 



lire and SWOrd in it- hand-. I'.lind fanaticism will 



continue its destructive work of exterminating a 



people which assuredly do not 



" Before such a prospect our responsibility would 



.rmous if we did not most earnestly urge the 



powers not to insist upon the scheme of autonomy 



proposed, but rather to restore to Crete what she 



already had at the time of the enfranchisement of 



the other provinces which form the KiiiL r '!<'iii of 



< . and to lead her back to which 



she had belonged since Capodistrias was President. 



" In the presence of tin 

 pillage, and conflagration in Canea. in tl 

 of the frightful aniruish which the inhabitants of 

 Crete have suffered, exposed, as they have been, to 

 massacre by the boundless fury (.f the Mussulman 



population, who prevented the departure of Chris- 

 tian families f ( ,r Greece, which has alwa\- been a 

 providential refuge for all these miser.v 

 our whole com rn with remorse for the 



responsibility it assumed last year in inducing the 

 lav down their arms. The misfortune'* 



that resulted forbid us to und r more -ndi 



a ta-k. and if we had attempted it our voice would 

 certainly feeble. Its echo would not 



I the Cretan people. 



" It beini: the case, then-fore, that a new r'< 

 Of autonomy OOdkl not fulfill the noble aim of the 

 powers, it is obvious what would be the situation 

 of the unhappy island from to-day until the estab- 

 lishment of f hi 



" If the ; H to be their duty to per- 



in their resolutions, with the above; views. 

 and in the name of humanity, as well as in ti 



