Untitled

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6489, 16 May 1898, Page 2

In the year 1453 Mo the resur- hammed 11. made himself bection of master of Constantinople, Greece. and, amongst other portions of the Eastern Empire, of Greece proper. The islands of the JEgean Sea and of the Eastern Mediterranean passed into Turkish hands one after another, Crete falling into their power in 1669. About 1700 the Venetians succeeded in Avresting back tho Peloponnese, but lost it again in 1715. From that day to this the history of Greece haß been a history of never-ending revolt, of constant struggle against Turkish oppression and Turkish treachery. There is no nobler theme in all history than the " Resurrection of Greece " from that blaok night of barbarism into the glorious light of liberty, of the consciousness of itself as a nation. The paper that Mrs Grossmann read before the Canterbury College Dialectic Society on Saturday night would have failed utterly in its object, if it had not recognised the heroic nature of this revival and it would have been weak indeed if it had not drawn a noble inspiration from such a theme. The darkest hour is evor that before the dawn, and there is no blacker record of cruelty and treachery than the history of Turkish rulo in Greece duiing tho latter portion of the eighteen tli century. The mountainous nature of the country has always pre-

vented the various tribes irom uniting, and practically the only bond the tribes have had has been that of a common.

religion. But the rule -of jblia Turks allowed many of the (ttoeek -citizens to become wealthy, beca use iitphas.al.ways been the function of races subject to the Sultan to provide the means of sustenance to the masters, and with comparative wealth came comparative leisure. Thus it was that certain of the G reeks had time to reflect on the ancient gl<>ry of the race, and with the beginning of the century there came a revival of learning and of culture at Athens. With the common people -there remained a memory of massacre after massacre, and rioh and poor were thus united in ono common cause, with the common hope of liberty for Greece • the rich inspired by the deeds of the mighty dead, the poor by a bitter hatred of their oppressors.