Again, Violence

Violence was once again the word on Cyprus. Now that the first hopes of peace have been dashed, it has become clear that basic British policy on Cyprus has not so much toughened of late as it has been smoked out by events. The British simply do not want to reach a settlement with the exiled Cypriot leader Archbishop Makarios.

When E.O.K.A., the Greek Cypriots' underground, recently offered to call off its campaign of terrorism, Governor Sir John Harding replied by calling for what amounted to unconditional surrender. The assassins were on the run, he said, and the only reason E.O.K.A. had called a truce was "to recover from the hard knocks it has taken in recent months." Now that the terror is back on again, British government officials admit that E.O.K.A. is really still powerful, and will take some handling.

The fact is that the E.O.K.A. truce offer took the British government by surprise. About the last thing the British want at the moment is any sort of negotiated settlement that would bring about

Cyprus' union with Greece in the near future. Every new troop transport arriving at Nicosia last week underlined the basic reason--namely, that Britain feels it must have a secure eastern Mediterranean base from which to safeguard its Middle East interests.

The Documents. At this point, Colonial Secretary Alan Lenox-Boyd called a special Sunday press conference to proclaim the capture of fragments of Underground Leader George Grivas' diary (TIME, Sept. 3) showing a close association with Makarios. Lenox-Boyd now felt justified in all his darkest suspicions of Makarios. The discovery of the diaries came at an adventitious moment (a fact that stirred cynical memories of similar "discoveries" about Irish rebels at an ear lier date). The Greeks, of course, cried forgery. But even the portion released by the Colonial Office to bolster their case hardly justified the interpretations some London papers gave it.

The diary, in effect, showed that Makarios and Grivas were in touch, asking each other for help, and in general behaving like separate but related figures in a nationalist independence movement. Far from proving the unfitness of Makarios as someone to negotiate with, argued the Manchester Guardian, the evidence that

Makarios was so powerful in controlling the terrorists should be all the more reason for dealing with him--if the government really wants a settlement.

The Eden government, standing pat, was in the position of having to justify its conduct to many of its own countrymen. Out on Cyprus, with E.O.K.A.'s amnesty offer withdrawn, bombs and guns went off all over. Terrorists attacked two police stations near Nicosia. A limpet mine, presumably placed by an E.O.K.A. frogman, holed the bottom of a small vessel anchored at the very spot where French and British supply ships were scheduled to unload later in the week.

The Escape. In one of the wildest and most sanguinary affairs of the 18-month-old war of terror, Polykarpos Hadjigeorghiu, 25, a top E.O.K.A. partisan with a $14,000 price on his head, escaped for a third time from his British captors. As Hadjigeorghiu was led from prison into the Nicosia general hospital for treatment, three gunmen opened fire in the crowded lobby. One of Hadjigeorghiu's two British sergeant escorts fell, mortally wounded. The other shot two of the assassins dead and bloodied the head of the third with a blow from his emptied Sten gun. A hospital attendant who had been handing out the week's paychecks to the help was also killed. Two others were wounded. In the uproar Hadjigeorghiu and the bleeding gunman bolted off. It was hide-and-seek again.

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