TURKEY. 



806 



Railroads. Since the summer of 1888 Turkey 

 has been in direct railroad communication with 

 western Europe. There are 904 miles of rail- 

 roads in European Turkey, composing the trunk 

 lines to Constantinople and Salonica and their 

 branches, and including the eastern Roumelian 

 and Bulgarian sections. In Asiatic Turkey 410 

 miles were in operation in 1889 and 292 miles 

 were in process of construction between Ismid 

 and Angora. The first section running from 

 Ismid to Adabazar, 25 miles, was opened to 

 traffic on June 2, 1890. The railroad from Scu- 

 tari to Ismid, 58 miles, was transferred by the 

 Government to the company that undertook to 

 continue it to the capital of 'Anatolia before Oc- 

 tober, 1892. 



Dispute with the Greek Patriarchate. 

 The (Ecumenical Patriarch, Monsignor Diony- 

 sios, on July 23, 1890, on the question of the -in- 

 vestiture of Bulgarian bishops (see BULGARIA) 

 addressed a memorandum to the Sultan denounc- 

 ing the Bulgarian Exarch as a schismatic who 

 seeks to obtain berats to which only Orthodox bish- 

 ops are entitled, and praying that the new bishops 

 should be expressly designated as schismatic and 

 forbidden to wear the vestments of the Orthodox 

 clergy. On Aug. 5, his demands not having been 

 complied with, he resigned. Three Macedonians 

 were appointed to the bishoprics, Theodosius to 

 Uskub, Sinessius to Ochrida, and Juzma to Kos- 

 sovo. A commission was appointed to consider 

 the claim of the Patriarch for the restoration of 

 the ancient rights and privileges of the Orthodox 

 Church, but the question of the berats prevented 

 an understanding being arrived at. The Patri- 

 arch, who was supported in his position by the 

 Russian, Greek, and Servian governments, would 

 not withdraw his resignation, and on Oct. 15, 

 by order of the (Ecumenical Synod, all churches 

 were closed in European Turkey. The Porte 

 agreed to make concessions in regard to schools, 

 jurisdiction in matters of marriage and divorce, 

 and of the testamentary disposal of property, and 

 the other ancient privileges claimed, except the 

 right to try priests in the ecclesiastical courts, but 

 withdrew its promise when the patriarchate per- 

 sisted in ademand that no new Bulgarian bishoprics 

 should be created, although by the firman of 1870 

 the Bulgarians were promised a bishop wherever 

 they formed a majority of the inhabitants. Mon- 

 signor Dionysios proposed a convocation of the 

 autocephalous churches, but received indefinite 

 replies from the patriarchs of Alexandria, Jeru- 

 salem, and Antioch and the heads of the Rouma- 

 nian and Servian churches. The dispute with 

 the Porte was finally settled by the acceptance 

 of the promised concessions, and religious serv- 

 ices were resumed in December in the churches 

 in which they had been suspended, not all the 

 archbishops having closed their churches in com- 

 pliance with the decision of the synod. 



The Cretan Question. The troubles in 

 Crete, which began as a faction fight between 

 the two Christian parties, and through the in- 

 trigues of Greek annexationists and Mohammed- 

 an politicians aiming to regain their old ascend- 

 ancy took the form of a rebellion against the 

 government of the Turk, compelled the Sultan 

 to intervene at last. Shakir Pasha who was 

 sent to replace the Christian Governor-General, 

 proclaimed military law and garrisoned the isl- 



and with 20,000 Ottoman troops, and when the 

 insurrection was thoroughly crush.-,! th.- Sultan 

 in order to prevent the reeni<leseen< . oft! 

 ternational dangers arising from tin- a-iuti..n for 

 Cretan independence, issued a firman l,y which 

 he curtailed the privileges of Mlf-gOTtnunent 

 that had failed to satisfy the Cretans and k.,j, 

 them quiet. The firman takes from t he ( , 

 the free disposal of the revenue and make, ih.-m 

 dependent on the Ottoman Government for the 

 satisfaction of their requirements for the build- 

 ing of roads, the improvement of harbors, the 

 founding of schools, and the payment of the 

 gendarmerie. The latter was composed of na- 

 tives of the island alone, but under the new 

 stitution it can be recruited in ail parts of the 

 empire. The Hellenic agitators protested in 

 vain to the powers. The 2,000 exiles at Athens 

 refused to return to Crete after a general am: 

 had been proclaimed in March, from which 18 per- 

 sons were excepted. Murders of gendarmes and 

 of Mohammedans took place, but no organized 

 rising was attempted. Many stories were circu- 

 lated alleging barbarity on the part of the Turk- 

 ish police and soldiery and outrages of the Mo- 

 hammedan Cretans that went unpunished. All 

 the Christian judges on the island resigned and 

 refused to resume their functions. The courts- 

 martial delivered 84 judgments up to March 1. 

 of which 14 were based on purely political 

 charges. The Porte promised to abolish tin- 

 state of siege as soon as the refugees should re- 

 turn. In the elections for the Assembly in May 

 the Christians largely refrained from voting. 

 Martial law was abolished on April 29, and 

 many of the exiles returned notwithstanding the 

 efforts of the Panhellenic party to keep them in 

 Athens.' On July 9 Djevad Pasha was appointed 

 Governor-General, and, amnesty having been 

 granted to the convicted leaders and the mili- 

 tary patrols withdrawn, acts of violence on both 

 sides gradually ceased, and in the autumn the 

 country settled down to normal conditions. 



War with the Druses. One of the periodi- 

 cal campaigns for the subjugation of the Druses 

 of the Hauran, who have never been made to 

 pay their taxes or furnish their quota of re- 

 cruits for the army, was undertaken in the sum- 

 mer of 1890. The district is nominally a Turk- 

 ish Sanjak, and gradually the military posts 

 have been extended along the caravan route east 

 of Lake Tiberias and the road from this toward 

 Suweida, the nominal seat of government of the 

 district. The Turks have also held possession of 

 the garrisoned town of Bozrah, 20 miles distant. 

 In May they began a military movement for tin- 

 occupation of the Hauran mountains. The 

 Druses were at first successful, driving the Turks 

 out of Suweida. Later a larger Ottoman force 

 was brought up, about 2,000 men with cannon, 

 and after a bombardment the town was recapt- 

 ured. Attempts to penetrate into the mountains 

 were not successful, and in September, when 

 about 400 had been killed on either side, a peace 

 of the nature of an armed truce was declared, 

 which left the Turkish Government for the pres- 

 ent in a worse position than before, as it was 

 obliged to maintain a larger force for the de- 

 fense of the places held before the war began. 

 The result of former operations has been a grad- 

 ual encroachment of the Turks, who have some- 



