The Great Round World And What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1. No. 21, April 1, 1897 | Page 3

Powers attack her, and try to drive her out of Crete, she will at once attack Turkey on the mainland, and with the help of Servia, Bulgaria, and what are known as the Balkan States (from the Balkan Mountains which run through them) will try her best to destroy the disreputable Turkish monarchy in Europe.
The preparations for war are going steadily on. Greece has summoned all her army reserves, and ordered them to rejoin their regiments. All the men are answering willingly to the call.
The army reserve is that part of the military force of a country which is not made a portion of the regular standing army. For instance, our States Militia, or National Guard, is an army reserve. The men belonging to it can follow other professions, and need not be soldiers all the time; but they learn how to be soldiers, and can be called on by the government whenever soldiers are needed.
Our standing army is very small. We have only about thirty thousand men in it; but our National Guard, the reserves that would be called out in case of war, number over ten millions.
In Greece there is a penalty of $200 for any man belonging to the reserve who does not answer the call of the country, and, moreover, neither distance nor citizenship in another country excuses him. If he does not answer the call, he will be arrested and imprisoned whenever he sets foot again in Greece.
The United States Consul-General from Greece has been notified to call for all the Greeks in this country. They have answered willingly, and are arranging their affairs so that they may be ready to leave the moment war is declared. They are endeavoring to charter a ship to take them back. Over a thousand of the Greeks in this country answered the call the first day it was made.
It seems almost sure that war between Turkey and Greece must come, and to this end Greece is hurrying troops, arms, and provisions to the Turkish frontier, every available steamship being chartered to aid in the work.
A number of the warships of Great Britain and the other Powers have appeared near the Pir?us, and it seems likely that some sort of a blockade may be maintained.
In Crete itself, fighting is still going on. The allied Powers are making a very determined effort to subdue the Greeks.
The Italians have forcibly put the Greek consul out of Canea. They took him into custody, and put him on board a Greek war-vessel, with a warning against trying to re-enter Canea.
The correspondents of the Greek papers have also been ordered to leave the city, and they, too, will be forced to leave, if they do not go quietly.
The British went to the town of Selino, which was being besieged by the Cretans, forced the insurgents to desist, and rescued the Moslems who were besieged, bringing them away from Selino under a strong escort of British soldiers.
The Cretans were so enraged at the rescue, that in spite of the fact that they had promised the British commander that they would allow the Moslems in Selino to go free, they gathered at the gates and waited for the Moslems to come out, dashed through the soldiers who were guarding them, and tried to wound and rob them.
A Russian warship made a cruise round the island a few days ago, and brought back word to the allies at Canea that fighting was going on near all the coast towns, and that the whole island seemed ablaze with war.
Colonel Vassos has received orders from the King of Greece that he is to hold all the positions in the island now occupied by Greek troops, and to resist all attempts on the part of Turkey or the Powers to dislodge him.
A report from Crete states that there has been trouble between Germany and Greece.
A German vessel, the _Kaiserin Augusta_, ordered a Greek vessel, the _Hydra_, to come to a standstill, and fired a blank shot at her to make her obey. The Hydra immediately replied by firing a whole broadside at the German vessel, and went on her way.
This report has not been fully verified, so after all it may not be true.
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Turkey, in the mean while, is following her usual method of saying nothing at all, simply waiting to see what happens.
The various Sultans who have been ruling Turkey ever since the affairs of that country first began to scandalize Europe, have always maintained this same attitude, in the hope that the Powers which insisted on interfering in the affairs of Turkey might at last get into a serious quarrel among themselves, and so be obliged to leave Turkey alone.
The Turkish troubles have been going on for years and years. The Armenian massacres, and