TURKEY. 



chancs asked protection -from refugees and bashi- 

 bazouks from Canea who threatened them. On 

 Aug. 25 a body of Turks attacked Malevezi, but 

 were repelled, losing 40 killed and 20 wounded. 

 At Bukolies the insurgents set fire to the houses of 

 the Mohammedans as soon as the troops left. In 

 the province of Pediada armed bodies of insurgents 

 entered when the garrisons departed and devastated 

 the homes of the Mussulman inhabitants. These 

 actions caused the Mohammedan fugitives, who 

 were maddened with famine in Candia and Retimo, 

 to assume a threatening and aggressive attitude. 

 In the latter place a bread riot occurred on Aug. 26. 

 A band issued from Canea and pi'llaged Platania. 

 murdering 8 Christians. 



The Porte accepted, subject to slight amendments, 

 this draft scheme after it had received the unani- 

 mous approbation of the powers. The consuls at 

 Canea were constituted a permanent body for over- 

 seeing the execution of the reforms. On Sept. 1 

 the consuls communicated to the Christian Deputies 

 the programme of reforms upon which the ambas- 

 sadors had decided and to which the Sultan had 

 agreed, informing them that the preliminary accept- 

 ance of the scheme by the Cretan Christians was 

 indispensable, and that the powers expected a com- 

 plete cessation of hostilities. The scheme embraced 

 most of the minor points as well as the main prin- 

 ciples of the demands made by the Christian depu- 

 ties. The Vali was to appoint all " officials of sec- 

 ondary rank, two thirds of them from among the 

 Christians and one third from among the Moham- 

 medans of the island. The Assembly would be 

 elected and meet and vote the budget biennially 

 and pass laws by a majority vote, except amend- 

 ments to the Constitution, which would require a 

 two-third majority. No proposal to increase the 

 expenditure could be considered unless introduced 

 by the Vali, or the Administrative Council, or by a 

 special committee. The customs revenue was to be 

 divided between the Imperial Government and the 

 island, the tax on imported tobacco to belong to 

 the island altogether. The Porte undertook to cover 

 deficits resulting from budgets not voted by the 

 Assembly. The reorganization of the judiciary was 

 to be undertaken with the aid of European juris- 

 consults, and that of the gendarmerie under the su- 

 pervision of European military officers. Books and 

 newspapers could be published freely. The troops 

 were to be confined to the garrison towns. Further 

 immigration of Africans was interdicted. The As- 

 sembly was to be convoked within six months, and 

 in the mean time the Vali would superintend the 

 introduction of the reforms and the powers see to 

 their execution. The imposition of an additional 

 duty of 3 per cent, was authorized for the rebuild- 

 ing of houses that had been destroyed during the 

 disturbances. The Christian Deputies accepted the 

 promised reforms unreservedly on Sept. 4. They 

 urged the insurgents to abide by the decision of the 

 powers and desist from hostilities. The consuls in- 

 formed them that no further exactions could be 

 expected from the Porte. The Mohammedans were 

 greatly agitated at the compliance of the Sultan 

 with all the Christian demands. A manifesto was 

 circulated urging true believers to resist the re- 

 forms. The consular body insisted on measures be- 

 ing taken to insure public safety, but the military 

 Governor was reluctant to employ force against the 

 Mohammedans. A telegram was sent to the Sul- 

 tan begging him to compensate, the Mohammedans 

 for their property, which they were determined to 

 abandon, not being able to live safely in Crete longer. 

 The insurgent chiefs signified their acceptance of the 

 scheme. The Cretan committee in Athens, in ac- 

 cepting the scheme of settlement put forward by the 

 powers, declared that the only definitive solution of 



the Cretan question lay in union with Greece. On 

 Sept. 11 the firman containing the new reform was 

 sent to Georgi Pasha, who was appointed Vali under 

 the new Constitution for the term of five years. Peace 

 reigned throughout the island, and the peasants, 

 Mohammedans and Christians alike, rejoiced at the 

 prospect of its continuance. The Mohammedans 

 were anxious to save their olive crop. The revolu- 

 tionary Provisional Government in Apokorona, of 

 which Manousos R. Kontourakis was president, still 

 urged the people to resist the troops. The Chris- 

 tian population in the interior did not realize the 

 change, and were easily excited by rumors circulated 

 for the purpose of protracting the state of tension. 

 Funds were lacking for restoring the refugees to 

 their homes and for the execution of the new re- 

 forms and the organization of the administration. 

 An order from Constantinople continuing the exist- 

 ing law courts raised a storm, but it was recalled at 

 the instance of the ambassadors. The revolution- 

 ary Assembly, on Nov. 15, protested against the 

 delay in the introduction of the reforms. The 

 military attaches of the embassies at Constantinople 

 undertook the reorganization of the gendarmerie. 

 The Porte refused to admit foreigners to this body. 

 The ambassadors, on Nov. 27. presented a collective 

 note to the Porte declaring that the foreign com- 

 missioners in Crete would proceed with the organi- 

 zation of the gendarmerie and the judiciary with- 

 out the co-operation of the Porte, unless the Porte 

 was prepared to act in the true spirit of the ambas- 

 sadors' project that had been sanctioned by the 

 Sultan. The Turkish representatives on the gen- 

 darmerie commission agreed provisionally to the 

 employment of foreign officers in the gendarmerie. 

 Disputes having arisen between the Vali and the 

 military Governor, Saadeddin Pasha was sent as a 

 special commissioner to mediate, but Georgi Pasha 

 refused to recognize an imperial commissioner un- 

 der the new Constitution, and at the instance of the 

 ambassadors he was recalled. 



Macedonian Agitation. The Bulgarian Gov- 

 ernment, having reached a cordial understanding 

 with the Porte, and with Russia as well, discour- 

 aged the revolutionary movement among the Mace- 

 donian Bulgarians, for whom it obtained valuable 

 concessions from the Porte. This tended to stir 

 up a ferment among the other Christian elements. 

 Early in the year there was trouble in northern Al- 

 bania, the population of which had refused to give 

 up their weapons while menaced with encroach- 

 ments from Bulgaria, and now opposed armed re- 

 sistance to the military measures of the Imperial 

 Government. A scheme of reforms for European 

 Turkey was concocted with the Bulgarian Pre- 

 mier, who proposed Christian governors, or at least 

 Christian deputies, to the valis and mutessarifs in 

 districts where Christians formed the main part 

 of the population, also a Christian gendarmerie. 

 These reforms the Porte hesitated to carry out while 

 disloyalty was rife in the peninsula. A commission 

 was appointed in January, 189(5. under the presi- 

 dency of Mahmud Djollaleddin Pasha to study the 

 question of the introduction of administrative re- 

 forms in the European provinces of Turkey. The 

 scheme of reforms, approved by the Sultan on April 

 28, applied to the provinces of Adrianople, Saloni- 

 ca, Monastir, and Kossova. Agriculturists were 

 relieved from the income tax and required to pay 

 only tithes of their produce. The Bulgarian Mace- 

 donian committee rejected the idea of peaceful re- 

 form, but it received no support from governing 

 circles in Bulgaria. The Servian Government, in 

 view of the revival of Hellenic aspirations in the 

 Balkans, requested the Porte to inscribe the Herns 

 of the Turkish dominions under their national name 

 and not as Greeks. The (Ecumenical Patriarch 



