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TURKEY. 



tion in 1860, 3,864.848, nearly all of whom 

 belong to the Greek Church. III. SERVIA. 

 Prince, Michael III. Obrenovich, horn Septem- 

 ber 4, 1835 ; succeeded his father Milos I. in 

 1860. President of fhe ministry since 1862, 

 Garashanin. Population in 1859, 1,078,281, 

 nearly sftl of whom belong to the Greek Church. 

 IV. MONTENEGRO. Prince, Nicholas I., born 

 1840; proclaimed prince in 1860. Population 

 m 1864, 196,238, nearly all of whom belong to 

 the Greek Church. 



All the dependencies of Turkey made in 

 1867 renewed efforts, sometimes openly, some- 

 times secretly, to enlarge their rights and pre- 

 pare for entire independence. The Pacha of 

 Egypt asked for and obtained a new title, im- 

 plying semi-sovereign lights. The demands of 

 the Pfiwice of Servia, for the evacuation of all 

 the Servian fortresses by the Turkish troops, 

 was also granted by a firman of April 10th, on 

 the sole condition that the Turkish flag should 

 continue to be hoisted by the side of the Servian. 



The Christian provinces continued to be pro- 

 foundly agitated. The insurrection in Candia 

 lasted throughout the year, and was at the 

 close not suppressed. (See CANDIA.) A new 

 insurrection of the Maronite chief Joseph 

 Karam, in January, was of short duration, 

 the Christian Governor of the Libanon, Daud 

 Pacha, compelling him to leave Syria (Jan- 

 uary 31st) for Algeria. In Epirus and Thes- 

 saly, committees, styling themselves "Provi- 

 sional Governments," called the people to arms 

 and appealed for aid and sympathy to the 

 Christian powers. But reports of risings proved 

 generally either fabrications or exaggerations, 

 and no important military operations took 

 place ; the excitement, however, continued 

 throughout the year, and a majority of the 

 Greek inhabitants seemed to be desirous to 

 effect their separation from Turkey, and annex- 

 ation to Greece, as soon as possible. It is diffi- 

 cult to obtain trustworthy statistics of popula- 

 tion in these two provinces ; the following 

 statement, from a well-informed correspondent 

 of the London Times, is the best information 

 that has been published : 



The population of Epirus, including the provinces 

 of Joannina. Delvino, and Avlona, is about 357,360 

 souls, according to a statistical account published in 

 Greece, in which the villages are enumerated. Of 

 these about 200,000 are Christians (Greeks and Albani- 

 ans), and 157,000 Mussulmans (Albanians and Turks). 

 In the province of Joannina, or Southern Epirus, 

 there are more than 100,000 Christians, and hardly 

 20,000 Mussulmans. In the province of Delvino the 

 numbers of the Christians and Mussulmans are nearly 

 equal ; but in Avlona there arc upward of 87,500 Mus- 

 sulmans, and only 47,000 Christians. 



With regard to Thessaly, accounts vary strangely. 

 The population of the whole country south of Mount 

 Olympus and the Cambunian Mountains is estimated 

 at about 400,000. In Greek accounts tbe number of 

 Christians is said to be About 3_23,000, and of Mussul- 

 mans only 40,000 ; but Turkish accounts give the 

 number of Mussulmans as about 150,000, and of 

 Christians only 250jOOO. Both are probably very in- 

 accurate. The agricultural population of Thessaly 

 consists in part of Mussulmans who were settled in 

 the country oy the usurper John Cantacuzene, about 



A. r>. 1350, a few years before the Osmanlis made 

 their first conquests in Europe. These colonists were 

 Turks from the dominions of the Seljouk Sultan of 

 Iconium, and are called by the Greeks " Koniarides." 

 They were once in great numbers about Turnova, and 

 they occupied all the plain between Ossa and Pelion ; 

 but it is said that their number has been rapidly 

 diminishing since the commencement of this cen- 

 tury. 



It results from these accounts that there mav be a 

 population of about 523,000 Christians and ^87,000 

 Mussulmans in the parts of European Turkey which 

 the Greeks d_esire to annex to the Hellenic kingdom. 

 The population of Greece, including the Ionian isl- 

 ands, is 1,330,000. The annexation of Crete would 

 raise it to 1,570,000 ; and if Epirus and Thessaly were 

 also added, the population would be 2,350,000, of 

 Avhom upward of 300,000 would be Mussulmans. 



In Bulgaria there were also proclamations 

 from a National Committee, and considerable 

 agitation, but no serious disturbance. 



As the agitation in the Christian provinces 

 has the sympathy of the Governments of Rus- 

 sia and Greece, the relations of Turkey to these 

 powers were any thing hut friendly. Russia re- 

 peatedly "endeavored to obtain the indepen- 

 dence of Candia, and new concessions for the 

 other Christian provinces; but the Turkish, 

 Government declined to promise any thing ex- 

 cept to introduce some reforms into the general 

 administration of the empire, and into that of 

 some of the Christian provinces. In June a 

 decree was promulgated permitting foreigners 

 to hold property. In July the Porte conferred 

 four superior appointments on Christians, three 

 Greeks and one Armenian, who were respec- 

 tively nominated Deputy- Governors of Salonica, 

 Smyrna, the Dardanelles, and Yauina. In Au- 

 gust it was decided that a new Council of 

 State should be formed, to be composed of ten 

 Mussulmans and ten Christians. 



In its resistance to Russia, the Turkish Gov- 

 ernment had generally the sympathy of France, 

 England, and especially Austria, which regards 

 it as the main object of its foreign policy to 

 counteract the influence of Russia upon the 

 Slavonian tribes in Austria and Turkey. The 

 Sultan, in 1867, visited the courts of Paris, 

 London, and Vienna, and at each met with a 

 cordial reception. Turkey, in 1867, appointed 

 for the first time a minister resident for the 

 United States. The man elected for this post, 

 Blacque Bey, is a member of the Roman Catho- 

 lic Church. 



The first diplomatic publication which has 

 been issued from the Turkish Foreign Office 

 was distributed to the foreign ministers at 

 Constantinople, on March 4, 1868. It is a 

 " Red Book,'' of 135 quarto pages, and contains 

 43 dispatches from the Ministry for Foreign 

 Affairs, besides the Sultan's firman and the 

 Grand Vizier's proclamations to the Cretans, 

 the law for the administrative reorganization, 

 of the island, and that creating the new vilatit 

 system of government in the other provinces 

 of the empire. The collection of dispatches 

 commences with one written as early as the 

 22d of August, 1866, and extends to the 19th 

 of February, 1868, and, as the only official pub- 



