3 JULY 1909, Page 9

The Cretan question is discussed with conspicuous modera- tion by

the Temps. It is maintained that the substitution of naval surveillance for land garrisons does not amount to any substantial change in the situation. If it was imprudent to withdraw the garrisons, it would have been equally so to irritate the Cretans by breaking a pledge given only a year ago. The writer acquits Great Britain of playing a double game. She has "only sought to compromise contrary tendencies. She has no interest in estranging the Turks, and has only tried to give the Cretans something, and not to make them rise against Turkey." After stating that M. Pichon has never differed from Sir Edward Grey in his opinion of the situation, the Temps reminds the Cretans that they have obtained essential autonomy, and the Turks that they are not going to lose Crete. They would therefore do well to pratise moderation, and "not demand the revision of a regime which

they have acknowledged for the last ten years, and which they accepted on the morrow of a successful war."