We greatly fear that a bad time is coming for
the unhappy Christians of Crete. The Western Powers have decided that' they will not press the Porte to grant autonomy, Russia cannot act in the Mediterranean, and Turkey is not afraid of Greece. Troops are therefore being poured into the island, the native Mahommedans are arming, and the Governor-General Shakir Pasha has forwarded a despatch to the Grand Vizier which seems expressly calculated to stimulate Mussulman feeling. He accuses the Christians of burning Mussulman villages, which is likely enough if the villages are fighting; of demolishing mosques and minarets, which is improbable ; and of outraging Mussul man women on their march- from one village to another, which is inconsistent with all that is known of Greek rebellions. It is a matter for evidence, of course ; but it looks as if Shakir Pasha had resolved on a policy of terrorism, after the regular Turkish fashion, and was trying to justify it beforehand to European opinion. If he releases his armed peasantry and supports them with regulars, the massacres will be terrible, and M. Tricoupis will be unable to prevent the Greek Government from declaring war. The Sultan, it is believed, is restraining his lieutenant; but there is a point at which the fierce Mussulman pride, fed at once by caste feeling and by fanaticism, will brook no further restraint. No one is more tolerant than a Mussulman to a Christian who gives no trouble; but if attacked or threatened, he acts as we should act if troops of dogs or cats suddenly attacked the passengers in the Strand.
