22 OCTOBER 1898, Page 1

The Sultan has surrendered Crete to the Cretans. On Thursday

he accepted the proposals of the four Powers unconditionally, and on that day the first detachments of his troops quitted the island. The remainder will follow within a fortnight, and Crete will then be free. The Mussul- mans had, it is asserted, planned a general massacre as a. relief to their feelings, but they were not encouraged from Constantinople, and Admiral Noel's wise firmness in hanging on the battlements of Canea seven lltiussulmans convicted of murdering English soldiers greatly impressed their minds, The infidel, then, had the courage to do justice ; it was Letter not to provoke his wrath. By a lucky accident Admiral Noel was able to arrest twelve Christians guilty of outrages, and

carry them to his ship, where, let us hope, any of them convicted of murder will also be tried and hanged. No population will ever resist even-handed justice of that kind if supported by adequate force, and no population at heart believes it to be oppressive. The island will now be orderly after a fashion, and any Prince whom the Powers may select will be able to govern, if he has a head, reasonably well. There are still, it is reported, difficulties in the way of selection, but there is no reasonable doubt that the nominee will be Prince George of Greece. Russia, England, and France have chosen him, and it is always true that "when these three have said it, it skills not much whoe'er impugns their doom." The misery of it all is that they cannot agree to "say it" above once in a decade of years.