27 JULY 1878, Page 14

WHAT THE CRETANS WISH.

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]

SIR,—It is no light matter to appear as a witness in a controversy so embittered as that now waged upon the Eastern Question. But I have been in Crete, among the brave Cretan insurgents, and I cannot let it pass as true that these men have any doubt as to what they wish. They wish to be united to the Greek Kingdom, and they have shed their blood in torrents to prove their sincere detestation of Turkish rule. The struggle is a hard one for the Cretans, and many among them would rather accept the half loaf of "autonomy," than no bread at all. Thus much I readily admit, and can you wonder at it? Their homes are exposed to Turkish brutality every day that they hold out, and the strain is hard to bear. The poor, suffering insurgents call loudly for union with Greece, and it is a most unfair perver- sion of what they say to make them seem to hesitate in the matter.—I am, Sir, &c.,