The blockade of Crete is to be brought to an end, or "raised" as it is
called.

The Cretans having accepted the Home Rule offered them by the Powers,
there is no longer any need for the allied fleets to remain there, and
therefore the war-ships are to leave the island.

It is difficult to see what good they have accomplished. When Djevad
Pasha arrived at the island, giving himself all the airs of a new
Turkish governor, the Cretans accepted Home Rule in the belief that the
Powers would protect them from the Turks.

Not being wily diplomatists, they did not insert any clause about the
withdrawal of Turkish troops from the island, and therefore the Powers
do not feel bound to demand this of Turkey, and are taking away the only
protection the Cretans had, and are leaving them just as much at the
mercy of the Turks as they were before Greece tried to go to their
rescue.

It seems a shabby piece of business on the part of the Powers, and one
they will have hard work to justify even to themselves.

The admirals have, it is true, requested Djevad Pasha to order all the
Turks in the island disarmed with the exception of the Turkish soldiers.
If he refuses they threaten to ask for his recall, but this is a very
poor conclusion after all the fuss that has been made, and the trouble
the interference of the Powers has caused.

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