794 



TUKKEY. 



place, in 1874, in the neighborhood of Bucha- 

 rest, in the presence of the military commis- 

 sioners of the principal governments of Europe. 

 The Austrian, Russian, and other Governments, 

 informed, the Porte that their interests on the 

 Danube are far too important to admit of their 

 being interfered with by exaggerated preten- 

 sions of suzerainty on the Bosporus, and that 

 treaties or conventions are about to be negoti- 

 ated directly with the Roumanian Government. 

 The Porte instructed its embassadors at St. Pe- 

 tersburg, Berlin, and Vienna, that the Treaty 

 of Paris must be maintained, and, if violated 

 in this case, reference to the signatory powers 

 would follow ; but, if the Roumanian Govern- 

 ment would submit the case to the Porte, a 

 satisfactory compromise might be arrived at to 

 meet the peculiar commercial necessities of the 

 principalities. 



The new communal law, adopted by the Rou- 

 manian Legislature in February, gives to the 

 Government the right to appoint the mayors. 



The session of the Roumanian Chambers was 

 opened on November 27th by Prince Charles. 

 The speech from the throne referred to the 

 good understanding existing between the Gov- 

 ernment and the representatives of the people, 

 to the friendly relations to foreign countries, 

 the progress of the military organization, the 

 increased revenue from railroads, and the good 

 condition of the finances. Bills were announced 

 on the reorganization of the jury, on the re- 

 form of the civil law, on recruitment, on the 

 administration of mines and forests, and on 

 public education. Prince Demeter Ghika was 

 almost unanimously elected President of the 

 Chamber of Deputies. The Government had 

 a majority in each Chamber. 



A serious complication between Turkey and 

 Montenegro arose from the massacre of seven- 

 teen Montenegrins by the Turkish populace of 

 Podgoritza, a small Turkish town near the fron- 

 tier, which, on market-days, is visited by many 

 Montenegrins. A wealthy and influential Mo- 

 ohammedan, Jussuf, having been killed on Oc- 

 tober 19th by a Christian, Ivanov, the report 

 that the murderer was a Montenegrin was suf- 

 ficient to arouse the populace against the Mon- 

 tenegrins, and to lead to a general attack up- 

 on them, during which seventeen lost their 

 lives and many more were wounded. Accord- 

 ing to the Montenegrins, the murderer was not 

 at all a Montenegrin, but a subject of Turkey. 

 The Prince of Montenegro demanded from the 

 Porte the appointment of a mixed commission 

 to investigate the matter, to which the Turkish 

 Government agreed. On the other hand, Tur- 

 key declined to comply with the request of the 

 Russian and German embassadors, that the for- 

 eign powers should also be represented in this 

 commission. The matter was not yet fully 

 settled at the close of the year 1874, though 

 thirty-two Turks, who were implicated in the 

 massacre, had bee,n sentenced to twenty years' 

 imprisonment. 



A complication between Turkey and Eng- 



land, which had arisen in 1873, was amicably 

 settled at the beginning of 1874. From the of- 

 ficial correspondence on this subject, published 

 by the English Government, it appears that 

 the territory of Yemen having been brought 

 more immediately under Turkish authority, the 

 Porte claimed rights of sovereignty over the 

 Sultan of Lahadj, who immediately appealed to 

 the British Government for protection. There- 

 upon Lord Granville telegraphed to Sir Henry 

 Elliot, directing him to inform the Porte that 

 any hostile operations against Arab chiefs cal- 

 culated to disturb the position of England at 

 Aden would create a bad impression both in 

 England and India. Lahadj lies within fifteen 

 miles of Aden, and its chief, or sultan, as he 

 styles himself, receives a monthly salary from 

 the British Government for supplying Aden 

 with food and keeping roads open. Being ally 

 and stipendiary of England, and never having 

 paid tribute to the Porte, he refused submis- 

 sion, even when the Turkish Government, giv- 

 ing weight to Sir Henry Elliot's representa- 

 tion, agreed that it should be purely nominal. 

 This refusal placed the Porte in a delicate posi- 

 tion. On the one hand, it wished to avoid all 

 action calculated to give umbrage to England ; 

 on the other, immediate abandonment of the 

 claim to exercise sovereignty over Lahadj 

 would be regarded as a sign of weakness by 

 other tribes meditating revolt. This dilemma 

 naturally led to lengthy correspondence be- 

 tween the Turkish and English Governments, 

 and it was not until nearly a year after the 

 complication first arose that the matter was 

 finally settled by the withdrawal of Turkish 

 troops from the threatened attack on Lahadj. 



In August, two treaties were signed at Con- 

 stantinople between the Ottoman Government 

 and that of the United States one having ref- 

 erence to the extradition of criminals, and the 

 other to the naturalization of the subjects of 

 either power in the dominions of the other. In 

 the treaty of naturalization the Ottoman Gov- 

 ernment has for the first time recognized the 

 principle that Ottoman subjects, naturalized 

 according to American law, become de facto 

 American subjects, and America reciprocates, 

 the whole arrangement being in accordance 

 with " the first principles of international 

 law." The extradition treaty is considered to 

 be of great value to the Ottoman Government, 

 whose extensive transactions with America 

 for the supply of arms render it indispen- 

 sable for the protection of national interests 

 that the arm of Turkish law should be able to 

 reach across the Atlantic. It is supposed that 

 this is the first instance on record of any 

 treaties with foreign powers in which Turkey 

 has not conceded more than she received. 

 Simultaneously, a protocol was signed on be- 

 half of the United States Government relating 

 to the tenure of landed property by foreign 

 subjects, to which that Government has not 

 until now adhered. 



The Sultan, after having for a long time en- 



