TURKEY. 





>n of tlie kind, is n highly important Con- 



tribution ti' tin- : 



!Sii7 ..[ions \vitli the lirman 



ih, appointing a commU-ioii, 



i'd l>> Mussulman and non-MiisMilman "iiota- 



' oi' Crete, tor the- purpo-,.- of preparing a 



Mheme of administration. Thou follows 



;i long di-patch from Fnad Pacha, written on 



, February ->n,, n ai'ler his return to 



tin- I'oiv'm'ii Oflioe addressed to tho ropre- 



>mloii and Paris, in which that 



ininiMer Minis up tho whole quo-lion apropos 



of tho as-.-riioii that tho insurrection in Crete 



.uly tho expression of discontent shared 



l.y tlio Cin-i-iian subjects of tho Sultan in other 



province-, and occasioned by tlic non-fulfilment 



of tho soloiuu promises made iu their favor, 



and tho slow MOSS with which tlie Government 



a the path of improvement. Fuad 



I'acha appeals to those acquainted with tho 



country to to-tity that those allocations are, if 



not unfounded, at all events immensely e .\air- 



d, and that Turkey has made, within the 



> which it has 



taken centuries to accomplish in other coun- 



Tliis is no paradox, for what has been effected in 

 Turkey during that period has not been simply an 

 administrative reform ; it is a social and religious re- 

 form which has been undertaken, and in great part 

 accomplished ; we have in twenty years changed our 

 middle age, which it took Europe four centuries 

 to destroy. The great principle of equality of classes 

 onco admitted, all the efforts of the Government 

 have been directed to putting it in practice without 

 causing commotion and collision between those 

 classes; and the Mussulmans it must be said injus- 

 tice to them, have seconded the views of their rulers 

 by showing a resignation which the privileged castes 

 or Europe have not evinced when the principle of 

 equality has been imposed upon them. 



What, asks Fuad I'acha, are the distinctions 

 and privile.ns of which the dominant race has 

 a monopoly, and from which Christians are 

 excluded ? 



Do not the latter enjoy an equal title to the bene- 

 fits of all the reforms which have been effected ? In 

 tho provinces each community is called to an equal 

 share in public affairs. Justice is equal for all, and 

 the tribunals we have created for mixed causes are 

 composed of as many Christians as Mussulmans. 

 No ! tho Christians have not cause to be discon- 

 tented, and they are not discontented, as they are 

 bflie ved to be in Europe. A striking proof of this is, 

 that, iu spite of all the suggestions and unceasing 

 intrigues, they remain tranquil. 



The insurrection in Crete was not an explo- 

 sion of Christian discontent, but the result of 

 foreign intrigue.*, and there was nothing in it 

 or in tho internal condition of any part of Tur- 

 k.-y which was at all fraught with danger to 

 the empire. The danger was rather in tho 

 rumors of a rectification of frontiers: 



These rumors adtniruhlv serve the purposes of 

 those disturbers of the public peace who s.-ck to cause 

 a conflagration, so as to be able to cry " Fire ! " The 

 object ot'tlu-e >.;entleinen is to excite illusory hopes, 

 i^lt lie progressive and regular march of reform, 

 and to hold up our government to Europe as a state 

 condemned to inaction. We are persuaded that 



friendly powers will no longer permit thU revolution- 

 ary gome to bo played. We cannot for a moment 

 they would impose upon u* a suicide 



whii-h would at tin- Manic time be the KH 



EOIOMMI equilibrium. What, Indeed, u mean! 



f iV'inticr ? According to i 



u the cession to Greece, be- 

 sides < irus and Tliesaly. l!ut on what 

 priiKiple is this dismemberment to be executed? Tho 

 prineipio of agriooMration of races, even if adm'M- 

 siMe, i* not at all applicable to those province*. A 

 third nf tin- Cretans an- .Mussulmans, a fourth of tho 

 Thossaliuns, and u half of t . By what 

 rii,'ht can tlie one be dispossessed for the benefit of 



t In- ot her i \S"hat Europe ought to counsel us. in a 



broad view of progress and eivilj/ mush 



what wo havo be^un. That is the true Eastern ques- 

 tion, and be} "iid it there is no practical ami equita- 

 ble solution. Wo shall go on in the patl ofn-tonn, 

 provided no attempt is made to mutilate us. 



After a telegram respecting the mission of 

 Costaki KH'endi and Dr. Sawas to Crete to es- 

 tablish a commission for assisting the sufferers 

 by the insurrection, there is another dispatch 

 to the minister at Athens complaining of incur- 

 sions of revolutionary bands in Epirus and 

 Thessaly, "recruited, organized, and equipped 

 with the knowledge of the Hellenic Govern- 

 ment," of the appearance of " a new pirate," 

 the Arcadi, and of a speech made in the Greek 

 Chamber by Mr. Tricoupis. The relations be- 

 tween the Porte and King George's Govern- 

 ment, Fuad Pacha is pained to say, u are be- 

 coming more and.more intolerable." 



On sea and land, our enemies draw from the Hel- 

 lenic depots and arsenals considerable reaoun 



the execution of their culpable enterprises Every 



one must admit that never has the patience of a gov- 

 ernment been more sorely tried Kenew, therefore, 



your efforts with the Cabinet of King George to in- 

 duce them to prove to us, not by words but by deeds, 

 their desire to remain on friendly relations with us. 

 We make this appeal in the name of humanity, and 

 the mutual interests of the two countries. Should it 

 unfortunately fail, as our previous efforts have, tho 

 Sultan's Government has at all events afforded tho 

 world one opportunity the more of judging where 

 rests the responsibility for the attitude of the Hellenic 

 Govermnent toward its neighbor. 



The next dispatch, dated April 4th. is that 

 in which Fuad Pacha gives an account of M. 

 IJouroo's interview with him on the 28th of 

 March, when the French ambassador communi- 

 cated the proposition for a plebiscite iu Crete, 

 to ascertain whether tho islanders would prefer 

 a government like that of Samos, Roumania, 

 or Servia, or annexation to Greece. It was 

 on this occasion that the Turkish minister 

 made the spirited declaration that nothing hut 

 another Navarino would force Turkey to cede 

 Crete to Greece. A dispatch rejects an inquiry 

 into the condition of Crete, which had been pro- 

 posed by an identical note of the four powers. 

 Intervening between these two documents i- an- 

 other remonstrance addressed to tho Greek Cab- 

 inet through Photiades Bey, dated April -J-tth, 

 answering at great length the defence and coun- 

 ter-complaints made by the Hellenic mi: 

 Fuad Pacha declines to be persuaded that tho 

 Hellenic authorities have done all they could, 

 and asks whether they havo ever enforced tho 



