io 3 o GREECE AND THE -BALKAN STATES 



series of assassinations of Bulgarian and Greek notables. By the irony of fate the 

 most pacific of Bulgarian governments was destined to make war on Turkey. in the fol- 

 lowing year. In July the Grand Sobranye was convoked to make certain changes in 

 the Constitution resulting for the most part from the proclamation of Bulgarian inde- 

 pendence in 1908. The assumption of the royal title was sanctioned, and the King and 

 Government were entrusted with the right to make secret political treaties. 



In May 1911 the decision of the Turkish Government to send salaried Cadis or 



ecclesiastical judges to Crete caused unbounded excitement in the island. The decision, 



which was attributed to the desire of Turkey to uphold the "sovereign " 



Crete: rights recognized by the Powers in the preceding year, was approved by 



Ihe'cadis. Great Britain but deprecated by the other Protecting Powers. The Cretans 



determined to prevent .the landing of the Turkish functionaries by force, 



and the Canea Government addressed a protest to the Powers. Eventually the Powers 



induced the Porte to allow the question to rest. 



The sympathy and aid extended by Montenegro to the Catholic Malissori or moun- 

 taineers of the Albanian districts south of the Montenegrin frontier in their revolt against 

 Montenegro: t^e met hods f Young Turk administration (see TURKEY) led to critical 

 the revolt relations with Turkey during the summer of 1911. The revolted districts 

 * the . were devastated by a Turkish army under Shefket Torgut Pasha, and 

 large numbers of refugees passed into Montenegro, where they met with a 

 hospitable reception, while Montenegrins fought in the Albanian ranks. Eventually 

 the Porte accepted the greater part of the insurgents' terms (Aug. 2d), and better rela- 

 tions between Montenegro and Turkey were brought about through Russia. 



The outbreak of war between Italy and Turkey (Sept. 29, 1911) produced some 

 excitement in the Balkans and led to military measures on the part of all the states of 

 War between the Peninsula in response to the mobilization of the Turkish army. It was 

 Italy and SO on realized, however, that Italy had resolved to exclude the Balkans 

 E//ec^ofl the f rom tne area f war > an( ^ no trou ble resulted for the time except in Cr.ete, 

 Balkan where armed meetings were held, a " revolutionary " Assembly was con- 



States. yoked, and deputies were elected for the Greek Chamber. The deputies 



were captured on their departure for Athens by an armed party from the international 

 fleet and taken to Suda (Dec. 1 5th), where they were detained until the dissolution of the 

 Chamber (Jan. 3, 1911). In September the Powers had notified to King George of Greece 

 their decision not to fill the vacant post of High Commissioner of Crete. 



IQI2. The year 1912 opened gloomily in the Balkans. The possibility that the 

 war between Italy and Turkey might bring about a cataclysm in the Peninsula was by 

 no means removed, notwithstanding the neutral attitude of the Balkan 

 States, but the principal danger lay in the deplorable condition of Mace- 

 Macedonia: donia. That province, abandoned by Europe, had fallen into a state of 

 inception of anarchy; pillage and murder were everywhere rife, and a campaign of sys- 

 L//ance. a/ tematic assassination carried out by the local Young Turk committees led 

 to reprisals on the part of the Christian population. The Bulgarian " Inter- 

 nal Organization " resorted to a series of bomb outrages, and a massacre of Christians 

 followed at Ishtib. The state of affairs in Albania and Epirus was no better; the Great 

 Powers looked on with indifference, and the conviction was brought home to statesmen 

 at Athens, Sofia and Belgrade, that nothing but the concerted action of the Balkan States 

 could end an intolerable situation. The tendency towards a combination was strength- 

 ened by a meeting of the heirs apparent of the Balkan kingdoms at Sofia on February 

 2nd, when Prince Boris of Bulgaria attained his majority. The definite conclusion of 

 alliances between Bulgaria and Servia and Bulgaria and Greece followed in a few weeks, 

 while an entente was arrived at between them and Montenegro. 



The unrest in Crete was kept alive by a decision of the revolutionary assembly to 

 send deputies to the Greek Chamber (Feb. ad), and by some murders of Moslem peasants 

 which led to a warning Note from the Protecting Powers. Owing to the quarrels of 

 local politicians a state of chaos resulted in the island, which for some days (March 



