In England, At The Time That I Am Writing,
Money Is Not Worth 2 Per Cent.
Owing to the general depression of trade;
the money-market has been in this plethoric or dropsical state for the
last three years, and there appears to be no hope upon the commercial
horizon of a favourable change.
In Cyprus the resources are great, but
the capital is wanting, and the strange anomaly is presented that the
exchange of the British for the Turkish flag has not increased public
confidence. Something must be done to change the present stupor; if
Cypriotes were Candians (Cretans) their voices would be forcibly heard,
and the Turkish rule beneath the British uniform would be quickly
overthrown. The Cypriote, down-trodden for centuries, is like sodden
tinder that will not awaken to the spark: he is what is called "easily
governed;" which means an abject race, in which all noble aspirations
have been stamped out by years of unremitting oppression and injustice;
still, like the Cyprian ox, he ploughs the ground. It is the earth alone
that yields the world's wealth: if we have no other thoughts but
avarice, let us treat the Cypriote as we should his animal, and make him
a wealth-producer. England has acquired the reputation of the civiliser
of the world; it is in this character that we were expected to effect a
magic change in the position of Cyprus; instead of which we have
hitherto presented a miserable result of half-measures, where
irresolution has reduced the brilliant picture of our widely-trumpeted
political surprise to a dull "arrangement in whitey-brown" . . . which
is the pervading tint of the Cyprian surface in the absence of
artificial irrigation.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 395 of 524
Words from 107744 to 108027
of 143016
