TUEKEY. 



737 



are principally directed to the substitution of 

 the will of the nation, that is to say, of the 

 population of the empire, without distinction 

 of race or religion, for the arbitrary power of 

 a few individuals. Assassination is a means 

 unworthy of the great cause we serve. We 

 think less of changing men than institutions, 

 and if the present ministers were to accede to 

 the desire of the country in advising the Sultan 

 to create a National Assembly, we should be the 

 first to support them ; we should bless the sov- 

 ereign hand that had granted that inestimable 

 benefit to the Ottoman empire. I repeat, sir, 

 the Young Turkey party has no share in the 

 conspiracy in question; but artifice and im- 

 posture must have had something to do with 

 it. Eequesting you to insert this letter, I have, 

 etc." ' 



The Young Turkey party, in 1868, started a 

 second organ in London. The new journal, 

 which is called the Hurriyete, was edited by 

 Zia Bey, ex-secretary to the Sultan, and was 

 printed on thin paper to enable its subscribers 

 to receive it in closed envelopes through the 

 post. The MukHbir also reduced its sheet with 

 the same view, and thus largely defeated the 

 prohibition against its entry into the empire. 

 One of the editors of the latter journal, Osman 

 Bey (F. Millingen), published a severe review 

 of Turkish administrative history during the 

 past six years, under the title of "La Turquie 

 sous le Regne cF Abdul- Aziz " 



In September, the Turkish Government 

 issued a circular to all the legations, announ- 

 cing the decision of the Sultan that, in future, 

 the straits shall remain closed to all foreign 

 men-of-war while peace continues in Turkey 

 excepting only those which have on board 

 sovereigns or chiefs of independent states. 

 No allusion is made in the circular to the 

 treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, of 26th June, 1833, 

 whereby, in case of need, to be estimated by 

 the Eussian ambassador, Turkey bound her- 

 self to close the Dardanelles against the French 

 and English fleets, while the Bosphorus was to 

 be left open for the free entrance of the Eus- 

 sians. 



The insurrection of the Christians in Candia 

 against the Turkish rule continued throughout 

 the year, and it was not until the last days of 

 December that the leaders abandoned open 

 resistance as being for the present useless 

 (see CANDIA). Early in the year the Turkish 

 Government published a so-called " Eed Book " 

 (the first book of the kind ever published by 

 it), containing the diplomatic history of the 

 Cretan War. Most of the documents contained 

 in this book refer to the years 1866 and 1867, 

 and an abstract of them has already been 

 given in the AMEEICAN ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA 

 for 1867. 



There are only two dispatches published 

 which were written in the present year. The 

 first, from Fuad Pacha to Hayder Effendi, min- 

 ister at Vienna, dated January 3, 1868, on the 

 subject of the Austrian recommendation, sup- 

 VOL. viii. 47 A 



ported by England, to accept the inquiry in 

 Crete proposed by Eussia, France, Prussia, and 

 Italy, with the saving clause that it should not 

 involve any thing aifecting the integrity of the 

 empire, may be said to close, for the present, 

 at all events, the diplomatic discussion of the 

 Cretan question which was carried on so ac- 

 tively during a considerable part of the past 

 year. It will be remembered that, after the 

 identical note of the four powers, the policy 

 of the French Government toward Turkey 

 underwent a sudden and very striking change, 

 and that France interpreted its adhesion to the 

 note in a sense very different from that in- 

 tended by its Eussian framer, and which it was 

 originally supposed to mean. With fresh sup- 

 port from so unexpected a quarter, the Porte 

 was less inclined than ever to accede to any 

 proposition bearing the aspect of an interfer- 

 ence in favor of the Cretans, and Fuad Pacha 

 begins his dispatch by referring to the passage 

 in the Emperor Napoleon's speech in opening 

 the Chambers, which intimated his desire for 

 the maintenance of the integrity of the Otto- 

 man empire. Therefore, it being no longer a 

 question of the cession of Crete, as when M. 

 Bourse made the proposition, in March, 1867 

 (this reminiscence is merely hinted at by Fuad 

 Pacha), the only objects of an inquiry could 

 be : 1. Into the causes of the insurrection ; 2. 

 Into its disastrous effects ; and, 3. The means 

 of repairing those effects ; and Fuad Pacha 

 contends that for those purposes an inquiry 

 such as is proposed is entirely unnecessary, 

 As to the causes of the insurrection, they are 

 notorious : 



"Who does not know that foreign excita- 

 tions and the privilege accorded to a neighbor- 

 ing country, in spite of international law and 

 treaty stipulations, to introduce munitions 

 of war and armed bands into the island, pro- 

 duced, and have sustained, the insurrection? 

 Its disastrous results are, unfortunately, too 

 real, but their extent is fully known to the 

 Government, which has made every effort to 

 repair them by introducing a new and liberal 

 administration, and by other measures, which 

 have been received as a real benefaction by all 

 the inhabitants who have been freed from the 

 pressure of the foreign bands. To institute an 

 inquiry by a mixed commission on the spot 

 would upset all this work, embolden the dis- 

 affected, confuse the minds of all, and inculcate 

 the idea that their safety did not depend upon 

 the authority and initiative of the Imperial 

 Government." 



The last document in the collection is a dis- 

 patch to Photiades Bey, dated February 19th, 

 forwarding for presentation to the Greek 

 Cabinet a memorial signed by more than 500 

 Cretans, praying that their families, who had 

 been removed to Greece, might be brought 

 back again to Crete. Fuad Pacha says that 

 the Porte will defray the expense of the re- 

 conveyance, and that, if any fresh difficulties 

 are put in the way by the Greek Government 



