Another Conference of the Powers (it was the third) met to decide the details of that proposal; but owing to the change of Government in France, along with other causes, the whole question proved to be very intricate.  In the end, the Powers induced the Sultan to sign the Convention of May 24, 1881, whereby the course of the River Arta was substituted for that of the Kalamas.

As a set-off to this proposal, which involved the loss of Jannina and Prevesa for Greece, they awarded to the Hellenes some districts north of the Salammaria which helped partially to screen the town of Larissa from the danger of Turkish inroads[182].  To this arrangement Moslems and Christians sullenly assented.  On the whole the Greeks gained 13,200 square kilometres in territory and about 150,000 inhabitants, but their failure to gain several Hellenic districts of Epirus rankled deep in the popular consciousness and prepared the way for the events of 1885 and 1897.

[Footnote 182:  The European Concert in the Eastern Question, by T.E.  Holland, pp. 60-69.]

These later developments can receive here only the briefest reference.  In the former year, when the two Bulgarias framed their union, the Greeks threatened Turkey with war, but were speedily brought to another frame of mind by a “pacific” blockade by the Powers.  Embittered by this treatment, the Hellenes sought to push on their cause in Macedonia and Crete through a powerful Society, the “Ethnike Hetairia.”  The chronic discontent of the Cretans at Turkish misrule and the outrages of the Moslem troops led to grave complications in 1897.  At the beginning of that year the Powers intervened with a proposal for the appointment of a foreign gendarmerie (January 1897).  In order to defeat this plan the Sultan stirred up Moslem fanaticism in the island, until the resulting atrocities brought Greece into the field both in Thessaly and Crete.  During the ensuing strifes in Crete the Powers demeaned themselves by siding against the Christian insurgents, and some Greek troops sent from Athens to their aid.  Few events in our age have caused a more painful sensation than the bombardment of Cretan villages by British and French warships.  The Powers also proclaimed a “pacific” blockade of Crete (March-May 1897).  The inner reasons that prompted these actions are not fully known.  It may safely be said that they will need far fuller justification than that which was given in the explanations of Ministers at Westminster.

Meanwhile the passionate resentment felt by the Greeks had dragged the Government of King George into war with Turkey (April 18, 1897).  The little kingdom was speedily overpowered by Turks and Albanians; and despite the recall of their troops from Crete, the Hellenes were unable to hold Phersala and other positions in the middle of Thessaly.  The Powers, however, intervened on May 12, and proceeded to pare down the exorbitant terms of the Porte, allowing it to gain only small strips in the north of Thessaly, as a “strategic rectification” of the frontier.  The Turkish demand of LT10,000,000 was reduced to T4,000,000 (September 18).