Then there were more conferences, which were more solemn than before: three of the Ministers (Salisbury, Hanotaux, and Rudini) not very sure that an indignant people might not even then be planning their overthrow; and the other three, with no such apprehension, urging extreme and severe measures against Greece.
At last they thought they had found a safe compromise.
They would demand that the Sultan should give up Crete, which should have its own government, or _autonomy_, as it is called, with a ruler whom they, the Powers, should select. Greece must go home with her troops and her ships, and have nothing hereafter to do with the fate of the island.
This was considered a wise solution of the difficulty. It would satisfy public opinion in Europe, while at the same time it properly humiliated Greece, who would be rebuked before all the world.
Again something unexpected happened. The stalwart, stubborn Cretans had their own views and preferences.
They did not want autonomy at all. What they desired was _union with Greece_; and Greece declared her unaltered and unalterable determination to stand by the island at any cost, and to protect her from being coerced into a political condition she did not desire.
One small, feeble nation dared to stand up and defy the combined power of Europe!
There was indignation and amazement among the Powers, who after further consultation sent an ultimatum to Greece and to Turkey. They must both withdraw from the island of Crete within six days, or the combined fleets of six European States would compel them to do it.
The polite Sultan, who never refuses demands, of course consented at once.
But what do you think was the reply of the Prime Minister of Greece?
They were brave words! He said: _"Greece would rather be wiped off the map of Europe than yield to the threat of the Powers!"_
There were twenty thousand of her countrymen on the island, helpless, defenceless, among fierce and cruel Mohammedans. Greece had promised them protection. She would _not_ leave them to their fate!
But in the mean time the storm clouds have been gathering in other parts of the sky. The people in England and France and Italy are asking very significantly whether their Governments are expecting them to fire upon a Christian army and the Cross, in defence of the rights of the Mohammedan Empire and the Crescent?