The South Wales Daily Post

NOTES AND COMMENTS. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1910. I Crete has returnonce m'ore its old char- acter ao, the storm-centre of South-East Europe. Until less than a year ago it had beeii, since 1897, held under control by means of an international force provided by Great Britain. France, Russia and ItaJy. I Since the withdrawal of the armed forces I of the protecting Powers the Cretans have given free scope to their pro-Greek aympa- thies, and their activity has, met with much effective if technically unofficial reciprocal attention from Greece, whose ex-armv and even army officers have been engaged in preparing the islanders for the impending fight. It may be recalled that once the foreign contingents left the island the na- tives ran up the Greek flag over Candia, the principal city, and that a. British naval squad had t'o return to haul down the symbol of defiance of the Turks, the nominal naafiters of Crete. The patience of the latter has of late been sorely tried by reason of the open propitganda. in favour of uniting Grete to Greece, and the point of oxhaastion was apparently reached a few days ago when it was announced that re- presentatives of Crete were being appointed to attend the meetings of the Greek Na- tional Assembly. Henoe the dispatch of a message from Constantinople to Athens possessing the qualities of an ultimatum, and Turkey be- gan the massing of fertjops on the borders of Theesaly. Since then the situastSon haai been eased by the disposition, simulated or sincere, shown by the Greek authorities to ."oothe Ottoman susceptibilities by explain- ing there is now no intention to receive ( ret-an re-ptresentati VieS in the National As- sembly, and by the apparent unanimity of the protecting Powers in the determination to satisfy Turkey, either by replacing the international garrisons in Crete, or per- mitting the Turks freedom of action in as- serting their authority in the island. But the position is complicated by the fact that Greece, like Turkey, has recently passed through a nearly bloodless revolu- t-ion, having its origin with the Army the latter acting through a league of officers is in practical control of a Government bereft of real power, on the ground that it has failed to respond to national sentiment in not boldly proclaiming Cretan independence of Turkey and its unity with Greece. Thus, despite official assurances of peace- ful intentions, emanating from Athens, whether dictated by prudence or strategetic reasons—for there is more than a suspicion that the forward party in Greece, have an understanding with certain principalities iu the Balkans, the armed forces of which, regular and irregular, are held up until the melting of the snows on the mountains and in the passes—anxiety persists in the Foreign Offices of the Great Powers, and an active exchange of views is proceeding as to the adoption of preventive measures. Furthermore, a squadron of British war- ships has left Malta for Plataea, near Patras, the principal port of Greece. Ren- ter is informed that this movement has n'o connection with the political situation; that the warships are merely engaged in their ordinary exercises. Of course; but this is not the first instance by many that a British fleet has manifested an intelli- gent anticipation of events in the selection of waters for "ordinary exercises liable at any moment to be interrupted by orders to carry out more serious duties. Mr. Frederic Harrison, friend of freedom, and the special pleader for the smaller nationalities, addressing the Eastern Question Association a day or two I ago, said all would agree the time had not come for any permanent settle- ment of the Cretan question. To force on a premature encouragement of the as- pirations .of Hellenic Cretans would inevit- ably involve the armed intervention of the European Powers, if it did not light up the flames of war in the whole Balkan Penin- sula. Peace to-day was bound up with the maintenance of the status quo in Crete. He might ha.ve added that a dozen years a.go a movement, having the same genesis and driving force behind it as the present— supported by a most indiscreet because mis- chievous and impotent memorial signed by a number of British members of Parliament —had its tragic climax in the headlong night of the Greeks to Larissa. After heroically holding back fot days the indomitable war- riors of Turkey—whose natural aptitude for fighting had been developed and organised by Goltz, one of the ablest of living German soldiers—the strain became greater than could be borne, and they broke as brave, but ill-disciplined, troops are apt to do, and fle.d helter-skelter from the terrain pre- viously most manfully contested. Only European intervention saved Greece from in- curring grievous penalties. We are now back to the point in 1897 before the opening of the campaign which ended with the flight to Larisea-the description of which, by the way, was probably the best work ever done by a Swansea boy, Mr. Howell Gwyn, now editor of the London Standard," and then a war correspondent for Reuter. In the case of Crete, natural sentiment must ever be in acute conflict with material considerations. To the Cretans, how mock- ing must be the suggestion that in 1910 their Hellenic aspirations are premature, when, since 1821, they have engaged in nine different risings to realise them, performing prodigies of valour, manifesting amazing powers of endurance and self-sacrifice. The national story of Crete is one of sustained heroism. Pent up in an island 130 miles long. and at its broadest part not more than 35 miles wide, and with a population now about 320,OOO-not as many as may be found packed compactly together in Leeds or Sheffield, Baltimore or Boston-»-which figjre they scarcely ever exceeded at critical periods in their long drawn out past, the Cretans have been consistent in heroism throughout ages that stretch back into the dim half-light of myth- ology, and even into the- utter dark- ness of prehistoric tiihes. It was in Crete that Zeus and the other Olympian gods had their home; Minos, a Cretan king with a semi-divine origin, gave the Cretans laws and a system of government challenging comparison with those that the genius of Lycurgus conferred upon Sparta; Minos was the first of monarchs to acquire for a country dominion of the sea. The seaise of freedom was so strongly- de- veloped on the island in the early world that its inhabit an te were too absorbed in fighting out internecine differences to take a hand in others farther afield. Until the Romans came, who after three years strenu- ous effort subdued them the Saracens later had their short innings, to be succeeded by tfee Venetians, who held Crete for four hundred years. In 1645 the Turks had their turn—then in the full plenitude of their powere—landing 50,000 seasoned warriors. Their Mege of Candia was the longest on record; it lasted over twenty years, t but was ultimately suooeaefud. Greie joined in the Greek rising against Turkish lule in 1821; the mountaineers of Sfalkiot-the mainstay of every national movemoot, in Crete—drove the Moslems into the fortified cities. In their mountain fasitmatses they were virtually impregnable. The European Powiere, realising that to concede Crete either to Greeoe or to return it to Turkish rule meant further trouble, attached the island to Egypt, then under the control of an able Khedive, Mahomet Ali. But the arrangement proved unsatisfactory, and in 1840 Crete reverted to Turkish rule. Since then the story of Crete has been repeatjpg itself monotonously and sadily. After in- tervals for rest and recuperation the in- evitable rising, having fusion with Greece as the ultimate objective, and the inter- vention of the Great Powers as an act of expediency to ward off war, and incidentally enshackle afresh the Cretans.

"She's leading the simple life at Monte Carlo."—(One of the quips at the Grand Theatre, Swansea.) -+- +- Rev. W. A. Richards, Derby, a native of Llanelly, ha.s been appointed president of the Derby Free Church Council. In proportion to the population, the issue of books from the Llanelly Free Library is greater than in any other town m the Princi- pality. Alderman Raffan, M.P., who won the Leigh Division, lives at Newbridge, near Newport, and is the principal owner and editor of the "South Wales Gazette." -;+.+- New Siloh, Landore, and Old Siloh stand in the rather unique position of being, practi- cally speaking, one on the top of the hill and the other at the bottom. And both doing ■very nicely, thank you. Breconsfhire Liberals point with pride to the fact that their member, MT. Sidney Robinson, took part in 1,655 divisions dur- ing the last Parliament, Mr. Robinson always was a good pedestrian. The G.W.R. are running two trips to Ire- land in connection with the Welsh v. Ireland Rugby International at Dublin in March- one through Fishguard and RossJare and the other direct by boat from Fishgnaxd. Mr W. Phillips, a Swansea boy, writing home from Pilou, says there is a saying in that part that no one can die there unless he or she has a special reason for doing so. The death rate is abnormality low in Pilou. One of our men volunteered a suggestion for a "couple of lines" for Friday's poster over the Scottish team's confidence in conse- quence of the exclusion of Owen and Jones. His effort was: "Parritch Party's Ghoulish Glee." He is looking for a situation. -+- There is a great scramble for the Home Secretaryship. Robeon, Burns and Samuel are all after it, and although at the moment nothing is decided, a fairly safe rule in party politics is—when in doubt, back the lawyer. —("John Bun. ") It is a matter of remark that Welshmen when they speak English use fewer collo- quial expressions than do the majority of Englishmen. But colloquialisms and peou- larities of pronunciation creep into their Welsh speech. Dancing appears to have beoome very popular in Llanelly, and one of the largest) halls has been overcrowded with dancers on two occasions within a week, whilst a number of Llanelly folk also attended the dance at the Public Hall, Pontardulais, on Thursday evening. Mr. 0. M. Edwards states that "the his- tory of the Welsh nation is not a history that ends with HLe fail of Llyweivn. because the nation is still alive, and is stronger than It ever was before, and the history of the literature of AYafe is not a history thait finishes with the lamentation of Eidwaaxl Morus in seeing the gentlemen in high posi- tions turning their back upon the muse (awen)." The likelihood of Messrs. Armour, the Chicago packers, erecting a distribution store, at Swansea recalls to mind the old wheeze about the States "They eatlw-hat they can, and can what they can't." Then there is the story of the dude who, in endeavouring to repeat this. rendered it time: "You know, they eat everything they possibly can, bai jove, and put the rest into tins, deai boy." .+-- "Portraits of eminent men are sometimes turned to a strange use," says the "West- minster Gazette." "A lady visitor, to a country cottage noticed a picture of Mr. Asquith pinned against the wall, and ven- tured to congratulate the inhabitants on their sound Liberal views. 'Lor bless you,' answered the wife, 'I don't know who 'e be. I just put him up because 'e is the living image of my dear dead father.' f' In view of the re-opening of the Oxford- street Schools,1 Swansea, next Tuesday by Earl Cawdor, it may be mentioned that nearly thirty years ago the centenary of Robert Raikes, the founder of the Sunday school system, was celebrated at Swansea. Lord Gfiantarwe (tlhen Mr. John Jones Jen- kins) was the mayor of the town, and he presented every scholar in the Swansea Sunday schools with a, copy of the New Testament, leather bound. Lady Jersey is a very accomplished wo- man. She is an excellent platform speaker; she speaks several languages, writes well, and is a great reader. But perhaps she likes travellling better than anything else. She has been all over the world, and once she explored Samoa with Robert Louis Steven- son as her companion. The eldest daughter of the Jate Lord Leigh, of Stoneleigh Abbey, Lady Jersey has Tudor blood in her veins by virtue of descent from Princess Mary, Henry VIII.'s sister. The scout, Sentinel, which was berthed in the East Dock, Swansea, during the visit of the naval flotilla last year, registered the finest shooting with the 12-pounder in the whole Navy. The Sentinel's gunners put 13.73 hits per minute upon the target. One destroyer with this gun made 23 hits with 24 shots. A singular coincidence is that the scout Foresight, which was also at Swansea, hold", the best individual record for 12-pounder shooting, and is, with the Sentinel, top of the fleet. The controversy between Llanelly and the Carmarthen County Council has its humor- ous side. The Tintplatere say they may go in for irfoorporation, but a prominent Llanelly member on the County Council says this is a threat, but not a. warning. A Carmarthen weekly proves- it is a threat by a practical illustration. W hen a man tells you "If you ea.t fat pork you'll get bilious," it is a warning. But if he says "The next time I catch you eating pork, I'll punch your head, it is a. threat. "Llan- elly," the journal proceeds, "says that she will .start business on her own account un- less iihe gets her way. It is a threat, how- ever justifiable. -+- +-. In the current number of "The Hospital" an article by Sir Henry Burdett, K.C.B., K.C., V.D., upon the Swansea institution states :—"This hospital has a wing devoted to ophthalmic cases,of which there appears to be an unusually large number. The depart- ment is wen., organised and administered, and must be a great boon to the working classes throughout the district served by this hospital. The patients throughout the hospital were markedly happy and comfort- able. facts which testify to the kindness they receive at the hands of the medical and nurs- ing staffs, and indeed from all with whom they have to do whilst, resident in the Swan- sea. Genejal Hospital." x