CHAPTER I.

THE CRETAN INSURRECTION WHEN the Greek kingdom was constitutedby the intervention of the Great Powers in 1820, the crown was offered to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, afterwards the first Kingof the Belgians. But he refused to accept it, on the ground that the territory allotted to the new state was too small to make it either prosperous or secure in its independence. He especially dwelt upon 'the fact that the future of Greece must largely depend upon the development of its maritime commerce in the Eastern Mediterranean, and he urged that inorder to enlarge its opportunities in this direction the great island of Crete should become Greek territory. The Powers, however, adhered to the original arrangement which left Crete to Turkey.

To a certain extent history was on the side of this settlement. The island had neverbeen under the same government as Continental Greece, unless when both countries had been under some foreign rule. Its people were a mixed race, and there was a considerable Mohammedan element in the population. Though generally spoken of as Turks, these Moslems of the island were, with a few exceptions,Cretans who had adopted the religion of their conquerors. Crete, afterbeing a Roman province, had been ruled in turnby the Saracens