The Greek element is generally combustible, and before the first year of
our occupation had expired various causes of discontent awakened
Philhellenic aspirations; a society was organised under the name of the
"Cypriote Fraternity," as a political centre from which emissaries would
be employed for the formation of clubs in various districts with the
object of inspiring the population with the noble desire of adding
Cyprus to the future Greek kingdom. Corfu had been restored to Greece;
why should not Cyprus be added to her crown? There would be sympathisers
in the British Parliament, some of whom had already taken up the cause
of the Greek clergy in their disputes with the local authorities, and
the Greeks of the island had discovered that no matter what the merits
of their case might be, they could always depend upon some members of
the House of Commons as their advocates, against the existing government
and their own countrymen. Under these favourable conditions for
political agitation the "Cypriote Fraternity" has commenced its
existence. I do not attach much importance to this early conceived
movement, as Greeks, although patriotic, have too much shrewdness to
sacrifice an immediate profit for a prospective shadow. The island
belongs at this moment to the Sultan, and the English are simply tenants
under stipulated conditions. Before Cyprus could belong to Greece it
must be severed from the Ottoman Empire, and should England be
sufficiently wayward to again present herself to the world as the
spoiled child of fortune, and deliver over her new acquisition according
to the well-remembered precedent of Corfu, the monetary value of all
property in Cyprus would descend to zero, and the "Cypriote Fraternity,"
if householders or landowners, would raise the Greek standard over
shattered fortunes.
Pages:
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497