free download here - Michael Llewellyn-Smith

The Great Island
mercial interests in Crete were stronger than those of any other power.
France had always been better represented in Crete than England.
After 1765 the French consul In Canea was the only European representative
allowed by the Turks to fly his country’s flag. And whereas
the French consuls were Frenchmen, the English until a late date were
not Englishmen. Even in 1834 Pashley found that the English consul
at Heraklion was a Greek born in Malta, an ex-Barbary slave, who
spoke no English.
The French, therefore, had had representatives in Crete for hundreds
of years; including a few Capuchin priests in Canea and Heraklion. It
was through one of these Capuchins, Seraphim, that the trouble
started. A peasant from Kalyves went to him and complained about the
oppressions of the Turkish garrison in Kalyves; Seraphim told Du
Tour, the French consul, who interceded with the Turks, The garrison
was moved. Precisely what happened is doubtful. But somehow the
Capuchin now gave the Cretans to understand that if the Cretans
turned Catholic they would qualify for French protection in similar
cases; and the peasants were allowed to assume that this protection
would come from the French Government.
The Cretans rushed to be converted. The pressure in western Crete
was so great that the Capuchins demanded reinforcements of Greekspeaking
priests. Even some Orthodox priests made the change. From
a Capuchin, letter in January 1860: ‘More than a dozen priests came
to . . . recognize the Pope as St Peter’s successor. And till now more
than 30,000 have been enrolled . . . who would not only be good
Catholics but also would attract the rest of the island.’ The movement
snowballed; the Capuchins were talking optimistically of importing
their first bishop from Corsica, where there were many Greeks ‘recon-
ciled’ to the Roman church.
As soon as it was clear what was happening, the reaction came. The
Metropolitan Dionysius issued a proclamation explaining the Catholics’
aims, and the impossibility of the French guarantee of protection. The
Turks, hostile to any form of change, supported the Metropolitan; and
according to the Capuchins, some Orthodox priests were seized on
leaving the Catholics’ house, taken before the pasha and the Metropolitan,
and beaten up. There were protests from the Greek government
and from the Ecumenical Patriarchy in the City.
The French had got themselves into a fantastic predicament - some
thousands of would-be Catholics on their hands, all ready to be converts
for political reasons only, and fraudulent reasons at that – and
Consul Du Tour, who perhaps did not at first realize the implications
94