TURKEY. 



769 



proposal. Moreover, it is feared that the 

 Princes of Servia and Rournania, the Khedive 

 of Egypt, and the Bey of Tunis, who bear 

 with impatience the suzerainty of the Sultan, 

 would seize the opportunity for declaring 

 themselves independent if a Sultan were 

 crowned who, according to the law which 

 existed at the time when they did homage at 

 Constantinople, would not be the rightful heir 

 to the throne. 



The long agitation of the Christian Bulga- 

 rians for a separation of the administration of 

 their churches from the Patriarch of Constan- 

 tinople, and the erection of a national Bulga- 

 rian exarchate, was, in the course of the year 

 1872, so far successful that the Turkish Gov- 

 ernment consented to the erection of the ex- 

 archate, and appointed the first exarch. The 

 trouble within the Greek Church, however, 

 which has been caused by this question, con- 

 tinued without abatement, and Russia, France, 

 and other powers, find it in their interest to 

 meddle in it. But it has not ceased yet to 

 be a source' of annoyance to the Porte. (See 

 EASTERN" CHURCHES.) 



In the discussions which for some time have 

 existed in the Catholic Armenian Church be- 

 tween those desiring to retain the old privi- 

 leges of the Church and those who submit to 

 the changes which were demanded to be made 

 by the Papal bull Reversm, the Porte sided 

 with the former party; and when, in May, 

 1872, a majority of the bishops of the Arme- 

 nian Church declared the election of the Pa- 

 triarch Hassun (who is the leader of the sec- 

 ond party) to have been illegal, and elected 

 the Bishop of Diarbekir Civil Patriarch of the 

 Armenian Catholic community, his election 

 was confirmed by the Porte. In July, the ex- 

 Patriarch Hassun was ordered to leave the 

 country. 



On August 22, 1872, Prince Milan IV., of 

 Servia, assumed himself the reins of govern- 

 ment. The young prince was born in 1856, 

 and had been proclaimed on July 2, 1868, 

 Prince of Servia. The government of the 

 country had, thus far. been carried on in his 

 name by a regency consisting of three persons. 

 An immense crowd greater than had been 

 ever seen there before had assembled in Bel- 

 grade to witness the coronation festivities. 

 The prince went in state to the cathedral, the 

 three regents accompanying him in his car- 

 riage. After the Te Deum, the regents hand- 

 ed over their powers to the prince, giving, at 

 the same time, a statement of the condition 

 of the country. The prince thanked them for 

 their administration, adding, "I take upon my- 

 self a heavy task, but its accomplishment will 

 be facilitated by the fact that I retain the co- 

 operation of the regents." There was subse- 

 quently a reception of the diplomatic body and 

 other envoys. M. Dolgorouki remitted to the 

 prince an autograph letter from the Czar. 

 The British diplomatic agent, being the senior 

 diplomatist, delivered a speech, in which he 



VOL. XII. 49 A 



alluded to the progress made by Servia during 

 the regency, and the friendly relations main- 

 tained with foreign powers. The prince, in 

 reply, protested his anxiety to continue the 

 good relations existing with foreign coun- 

 tries. 



In March the Servian Government had ad- 

 dressed a note to the Porte, claiming to be 

 put in possession of two Mussulman villages, 

 situated on the right bank of the Drin, and 

 respectively called the "Small Svornick " and 

 "Sakhar." 'The note, which was also com- 

 municated to the representatives of the powers 

 under whose guarantee the Danubian Princi- 

 palities have been placed by the Treaty of 

 Paris, is couched in very moderate terms, and 

 all expressions likely to envenom the discus- 

 sion, or to raise the susceptibility of the Porte, 

 have been studiously avoided by the writer. 

 It acknowledges that, thanks to the principles 

 of justice and equity by which the Porte has 

 always been animated toward the principality, 

 all the questions which have hitherto arisen 

 out of an imperfect application of the privi- 

 leges conferred upon Servia have been settled 

 to the satisfaction of all parties, and it ex- 

 presses the hope that the present question 

 will also receive an equally satisfactory solu- 

 tion. The note says : '* Thereby the Imperial 

 Ottoman Government will supply a fresh proof 

 of its respect for the rights secured to the Ser- 

 vian Principality, and still more consolidate 

 the good relations which should never cease 

 to exist between the suzerain court and the 

 principality." 



The Servian Government claims the two 

 villages because of their situation on the right 

 bank of the Drin, and because of their former 

 dependence on the districts of Jadra and Rad- 

 jevena, which, by the firman issued by Sultan 

 Mahmoud in December, 1833, were incorpo- 

 rated into Servia. It, moreover, alleges that, 

 if, in 1862, the commissioner who had been 

 appointed, by virtue of the conference of Can- 

 lidja, to superintend the withdrawal of the 

 Mussulmans from Servia had left the two vil- 

 lages untouched, this was solely due to the 

 opposition made at the time by the Ottoman 

 commissioner, who had received no instruc- 

 tions from his Government with respect to 

 these villages. The Servian Government also 

 relies upon a verbal promise alleged to have 

 been made to it by the late Aali Pacha, in 

 1866, to the effect that the two villages in 

 question would be evacuated and handed over 

 to the principality; and this promise, it is 

 added, would have, undoubtedly, been carried 

 out, had not the Servian Government thought 

 proper to abstain from pressing the Ottoman 

 Government while they had to deal with more 

 important questions. 



The subject remained throughout the year 

 a matter of negotiation between the Govern- 

 ments of Servia and Turkey, On November 

 4th, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, when 

 questioned in the Skuptchina (National As- 



