The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 1909. CRY OF THE LITTLE PEOPLES

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2580, 14 August 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 1909. CRY OF THE LITTLE PEOPLES

When the whole trend of modern world progress is towards concentration and still more concentration, towards nations becoming empires, and empires extending their sway year by year, the little peoples of the earth receive but scant consideration. Now and again wo hear a protest, as from the Boors in South Africa, the Finns in Northern Russia, the tSlavs in Southern Europe, but amidst the machinations of diplomats, representing He great nations, those minor communities are but pawns in the great game" of empire building. One by one they are annihilated or absorbed, according as their spirit impels them to* resist or acquiesce in the desires of their more powerful neighbors. - At the present time we have a striking instance of this phase of modern civilisation in the stirring protest that is being made by a people who rate iheir national, independence so high that they are willing to sell their lives in its. defence. The Powers have ordered .the inhabitants of Crete to take down the Grecian flag which they have erected on Canea fort —presumably to he replaced by a Turkish one—and the Cretans declare that they will all perish first. The position is not a pleasant one to- contemplate, either from a humanitarian or from a patriotic point of view. The little island of Crete was conquered by the Turks as far back as 1669, but the inhabitants have never really submitted to the Moslems. Insurrections were frequent, and finally, in order to preservo something like order, the joint Powers in 1898 placed a small force on the island. Crete has had its own local Government since that date, hut the suzerainty of Turkov was recognised by the Powers throughout. - Now the Powers have withdrawn their troops, considering further protection unnecessary, and the Cretans have evidently considered the time opportune to assert their independence by throwing off the nominal yoke of Turkey and joining forces with Greece. Considering that the bulk of the population are Greeks, this is a very natural conclusion to come to. The Young Turks, however, who have been endeavoring to thoroughly reform their own country, have declared that they will not on any account part with Crete, and to compel them to do so would be to discredit the reformers in the eyes of the Turkish people. During the long reign of the villainous Sultan, Abdul Hamid, the Powers recognised the Turkish rights over Crete, and to refuse them now, just when a reform party has replaced the iniquitous rule of the. ex-Sultair would bo giving to political virtue a very questionable reward. On the other hand, the national aspirations of the Cretans are most laudable, and it is to be hoped they will not be called upon to sacrifice their lives in a futile war of independence. The population of Crete is 330,000, and of this number 33,500 are Moslems, and the remainder Greeks. With such a prconderance of Greeks it is but natural 1 that the inhabitants should never rest satisfied so long as they are subject to a Moslem empire.