EASTERN QUESTION, THE. 



EASTERN ROUMELIA. 



227 



one tributary to the Ionian, the other to the 

 ^Egean Sea, as forming a suitable base for di- 

 rect negotiations bet ween the two powers prin- 

 cipally concerned. But while Turkey objected 

 to yielding anything except a small slice of 

 territory on the Gulf of Volo, Greece, encour- 

 aged by France, not only claimed the whole of 

 the basins drained by the two rivers referred 

 to in the Berlin Treaty, but also several dis- 

 tricts lying to the north of those basins. The 

 boundary suggested by Greece in December, 

 1879, embraced a territory of 9,400 square 

 miles, with a population of 650,000 souls. It 

 will be seen that Greece cLiimed about 900 

 square miles, with 115,000 inhabitants, more 

 than the Berlin conference was found willing to 

 concede. Greece, however, is to be put in pos- 

 session of Janina, which lies within the basin 

 of the Kalamas. Its lake, draining into that 

 river through underground channels, has been 

 allotted to Greece, but not the main road 

 which connects the capital of Epirus with the 

 coast opposite Corfu. The district of the Za- 

 gory, on the upper Vovussa or Viossa, which 

 has been, since 1850, in the enjoyment of auton- 

 omous institutions, is cut in twain by the new 

 boundary. In Thessaly, on the other hand, 

 Greece has obtained nearly all she demanded, 

 and the valley of Tempe and the lofty ranges 

 of Olympus are to lie within the territory of 

 the Hellenes. According to nationality, there 

 live in the territory to be ceded to Greece, in 

 accordance with the Berlin conference, about 

 366,000 Greeks, 80,000 Zinzars, 50,000 Alba- 

 nians, 45,000 Turks, and 4,000 Jews. In Thes- 

 saly the fertile plains extending between La- 

 rissa, Pharsala, and Volo are almost wholly in 

 the occupation of Turkish agriculturists. The 

 ranges of the Pindus, which separate Thessaly 

 from Epirus, are inhabited by Zinzars, Kutzo, 

 or Pindo-Wallachians, a Latin race akin to the 

 Roumanians, and, like them, supposed to be the 

 descendants of Roman legionaries. These Zin- 

 zars are a thrifty people, who readily amalga- 

 mate with the Greeks. In Epirus, though the 

 Greeks are in a majority, there exists a strong 

 Albanian element. The Mohammedan Alba- 

 nians, not exceeding 15,000 in number, seem 

 to be averse to be severed from their country- 

 men in the north ; but not so the Christian 

 Albanians. None fought more vigorously for 

 Greek independence than the Albanian Suli- 

 otes. Greek is universally understood through- 

 out Epirus. 



The Berlin conference, by directing Turkey 

 to cede the disputed districts to Greece, hoped 

 to avoid the outbreak of another apparently 

 impending war between the nationalities of 

 the Balkan Peninsula. The Turkish Govern- 

 ment contested, however, the validity of this 

 mandate, and was resolute in its resistance. 

 As the powers were unable to agree upon an 

 enforcement of the award of the conference, 

 the frontier question remained undecided at the 

 close of the year 1880. (See GREECE and TUR- 

 KEY.) 



In the mean while the powers had dealt more 

 peremptorily with the Montenegrin question. 

 Separate attempts to bend the Sultan's will 

 having failed, a collective note was presented, 

 which was met with dilatory pleas. Ultimately 

 the powers decided upon insisting that the 

 town and district of Dulcigno should be peace- 

 fully surrendered to Montenegro by a fixed 

 date, and, when Turkey still held back, a con- 

 joint squadron, under the English admiral, Sir 

 Beauchamp Seymour, assembled at Ragusa. 

 As the admirals of the squadrons were, how- 

 ever, not empowered to give active aid to the 

 Montenegrins, the Porte, on October 4th, is- 

 sued a defiant note, but when England pro- 

 posed to send the squadron to Smyrna with a 

 view to putting pressure upon the Sultan by 

 the sequestration of the customs revenue, the 

 menace sufficed to bring the Turks to a sudden 

 submission, and only four days after the issue 

 of the defiant note, it was announced that the 

 Porte would unconditionally surrender Dul- 

 cigno. Again new difficulties were raised by 

 the Turks, when they found out that the pow- 

 ers would not have proceeded to coercion, but 

 at length Dervish Pasha handed Dulcigno over 

 to the Montenegrins. (See MONTENEGRO and 

 TURKEY.) 



EASTERN ROUMELIA, an autonomous 

 province of Turkey, created in 1878 by the 

 Treaty of Berlin ; area, 35,387 square kilome- 

 tres; population in 1880, 815,513, of whom 

 573,231 are Bulgarians, 174,759 Turks, 42,516 

 Greeks, 19,524 gypsies, 4,177 Jews, and 1,306 

 Armenians. According to an estimate made 

 by the Servian statistician Jakshitch, about 

 three fifths of the population are Christians. 

 The Governor General is Prince Alexander Vo- 

 gorides (Aleko Pasha), appointed May 18, ]879, 

 installed in office May 30, 1879. 



According to the Constitution of 1879, drawn 

 up by a national convention, and consisting of 

 fifteen chapters, with 495 articles, the legisla- 

 tive power is in the hands of a single Chamber, 

 called the Provincial Assembly. It is partly 

 official, partly elective, and partly nominated 

 by the Governor. The official members are 

 the chief judicial and ecclesiastical dignita- 

 ries, to the number of nine ; the elective 

 members numbering thirty-six, and the nom- 

 inated ten. Half of the elected members va- 

 cate their seats every two years. The elec- 

 toral body consists of all men of Roumelian 

 nationality who are of full age and of a cer- 

 tain property qualification, either individually 

 or through their parents. The minimum age 

 of candidates for election is twenty-five, but 

 otherwise their qualification is the same as 

 that of electors, public functionaries being ex- 

 cluded. The Assembly meets annually on the 

 second Monday in October, at the capital. Dur- 

 ing the administration of Eastern Roumelia by 

 the Russians, till the end of March, 1879, a 

 reserve of 12,000,000 lei, or $2,328,000, was 

 formed and handed over to the new Govern- 

 ment, to be expended in the execution of public 



