DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9840#0030
xxii
INTRODUCTION.
husband or father out of the way, on some mere pretext,
and himself remain with his wife or daughter. So atro-
cious and frequent were such acts of violence and oppres-
sion, that I have been assured, by persons well acquainted
with Turkey, and certainly favourably disposed to the
Turks, that the horrors and atrocities which were almost
of daily occurrence in Crete, had hardly a single
parallel throughout the whole extent of the Ottoman
Empire.
From the number of the suffering Christians of the
island, up to 1821, we must except the hardy and cou-
rageous Sfakians, who had preserved amid their native
mountains a wild independence, and the right of wearing
their arms, in the use of which they were eminently
skilful. They became the nucleus round which the
revolt in Crete formed itself'; and though the Moham-
medans were all armed, and were nearly 30,000 in num-
ber, at the outbreaking of the Greek revolution, yet,
such was the superior activity, courage, and address of
the Christians, that in less than a year after they had
raised the standard of the cross, their foes were almost
all driven into the fortified towns.
From 1822 to 1830 Crete was an object of peculiar
attention to the Viceroy of Egypt. In 1822 he dispatched
7000 Albanians, under Khassan-pasha, to aid the native
Mohammedans; but the difficulties which these troops
encountered were such, that, before their general's death
the following year, they had most df them fallen, either
by the sword or by disease, without having gained any
important advantage over the insurgent Christians.
Khusem-bey, who afterwards fell at the siege of
Mesoldnghi, was now sent with still greater forces, and
in 1824 the Greeks were compelled to submit. Thou-
sands of them left the country ; and the Cretan Turks,
it would seem, wreaked their vengeance for the sufferings
they had endured in the war, on such as had no means
of flight from the island. The Mohammedans, in short,
had learnt no lesson of justice or of moderation by the
INTRODUCTION.
husband or father out of the way, on some mere pretext,
and himself remain with his wife or daughter. So atro-
cious and frequent were such acts of violence and oppres-
sion, that I have been assured, by persons well acquainted
with Turkey, and certainly favourably disposed to the
Turks, that the horrors and atrocities which were almost
of daily occurrence in Crete, had hardly a single
parallel throughout the whole extent of the Ottoman
Empire.
From the number of the suffering Christians of the
island, up to 1821, we must except the hardy and cou-
rageous Sfakians, who had preserved amid their native
mountains a wild independence, and the right of wearing
their arms, in the use of which they were eminently
skilful. They became the nucleus round which the
revolt in Crete formed itself'; and though the Moham-
medans were all armed, and were nearly 30,000 in num-
ber, at the outbreaking of the Greek revolution, yet,
such was the superior activity, courage, and address of
the Christians, that in less than a year after they had
raised the standard of the cross, their foes were almost
all driven into the fortified towns.
From 1822 to 1830 Crete was an object of peculiar
attention to the Viceroy of Egypt. In 1822 he dispatched
7000 Albanians, under Khassan-pasha, to aid the native
Mohammedans; but the difficulties which these troops
encountered were such, that, before their general's death
the following year, they had most df them fallen, either
by the sword or by disease, without having gained any
important advantage over the insurgent Christians.
Khusem-bey, who afterwards fell at the siege of
Mesoldnghi, was now sent with still greater forces, and
in 1824 the Greeks were compelled to submit. Thou-
sands of them left the country ; and the Cretan Turks,
it would seem, wreaked their vengeance for the sufferings
they had endured in the war, on such as had no means
of flight from the island. The Mohammedans, in short,
had learnt no lesson of justice or of moderation by the