TURKEY. 



797 



Balam was occupied by the Russians early in 

 September, with thirty thousand troops, under 

 the command of Prince Mirsky, who was after- 

 ward replaced by General Kamoroff as Gov- 

 ernor of Batum. At about the same time the 

 Russians began to evacuate Erzerum. Upon 

 a notice received from the Archbishop of Er- 

 zerum that the Christians there feared that 

 they would be ill-treated by the Mussulmans 

 after the Russian troops were withdrawn, the 

 Ambassadors made representations to the Porte 

 on the necessity of protecting them from at- 

 tack. A proclamation was issued byAli Pasha 

 exhorting the Mussulmans to use toleration 

 toward their Christian fellow subjects. The 

 Turkish officers appointed to the command of 

 the town were given stringent orders to pre- 

 vent outrages, even if martial law had to be 

 proclaimed; and troops were dispatched to 

 Alashgerd- to maintain order in that district. 

 By these measures a temporary tranquillity was 

 secured at Erzerum, and the Kurds in the 

 outlying districts were put upon their good 

 behavior. The Kurds, however, could not be 

 kept quiet long, and soon became unruly, so 

 that complaints arose at Erzerum against their 

 excesses, as well as against the obligation which 

 was imposed upon the population of furnishing 

 provisions to the Turkish soldiers. In the 

 mean while the Russian array in the districts 

 annexed to Russia \vas put on a war footing, 

 with continued recruiting and the strengthen- 

 ing of the fortifications of Kars. 



A revolt broke out in October among some 

 Bedouin tribes in the province of Bagdad, who 

 refused to pay the taxes. The authorities were 

 not able to compel them, having been nearly 

 deprived of military force in consequence of 

 having had to send three fourths of their corps 

 to Europe during the war. 



The British Ambassador in August present- 

 ed a memorandum to the Government recom- 

 mending certain reforms for adoption, particu- 

 larly the organization of a gendarmerie to 

 protect life and property, the creation of courts 

 of appeal with European assessors at certain 

 points, and reforms in the methods of raising 

 taxes. The Grand Vizier professed that the 

 Sultan was anxious to introduce the reforms, 

 but pleaded that there were great obstacles in 

 the way, the chief of which was the want of 

 the requisite funds for carrying them out, and 

 asked for an advance on the surplus revenue 

 accruing to the Porte from Cyprus. Mr. Lay- 

 ard replied that this was impossible, inasmuch 

 as a vote of Parliament would have to be had 

 before it could be granted. The negotiations 

 were continued for several weeks, the Porte 

 professing to be anxious to introduce even 

 more and more liberal reforms than those de- 

 manded by the British Government, but always 

 asking for money, and objecting to single 

 propositions of the British scheme as imprac- 

 ticable under the existing condition and cir- 

 cumstances of the Turkish nation. Finally, 

 toward the end of October the Turkish Gov- 



ernment gave an assurance of its acceptance 

 of the British scheme, with certain modifica- 

 tions which were designed, it said, to guard 

 the integrity of its sovereign rights. Its note 

 on the subject made no reference to the Anglo- 

 Turkish Convention (see EASTERN QUESTION), 

 in which the introduction of reforms was stip- 

 ulated for, but treated the English note as a 

 piece of friendly advice which happened for- 

 tunately to be quite in accordance with its 

 own views. The fundamental points of the 

 scheme as accepted by the Porte were unoffi- 

 cially stated to be : 1. The establishment of a 

 gendarmerie organized and officered by Euro- 

 peans. 2. The appointment of European in- 

 spectors to travel from one district to anoth- 

 er, receive complaints against the judges, and 

 watch over the administration of justice. 3. 

 The reorganization of the finances, which could 

 be applied at present only in one or two prov- 

 inces. 4. The term of office of the valis and in- 

 spectors to be not less than five years. Midhat 

 Pasha was appointed Governor- General of 

 Syria for five years in accordance with this 

 convention, and was charged with the intro- 

 duction of the reforms first in that province. 



Rushdi Pasha was in September appointed 

 Minister of Finance, in place of Kiani Pasha, 

 who was made a Minister without portfolio. 

 The trade in bread became interrupted at Con- 

 stantinople in consequence of the high price of 

 flour and the depreciation of the caimes (Gov- 

 ernment notes). The Sultan ordered the flour 

 tax to be suppressed, and appointed a commit- 

 tee to inquire into the best means of with- 

 drawing the caimes from circulation. This 

 commission made a proposal for raising a loan 

 to redeem the caimes, but it failed. The Porte 

 was said at one time to have proposed to sell its 

 domains in Bulgaria, and the supplies of provi- 

 sions, arms, and cannon still stored up in the 

 Government depots, which it was estimated 

 would bring in between 2,000,000 and 3,- 

 000,000. An Imperial irade was published in 

 the latter part of November authorizing nego- 

 tiations for the conclusion of a loan of 12,000,- 

 000 Turkish pounds, five millions of which were 

 to be devoted to the withdrawal of the caimes. 

 England was requested to guarantee this loan. 

 It was thought that Russia might raise objec- 

 tions to the new loan, on the ground that its 

 terms might compromise the security of the 

 war indemnity ; but at a later date it was an- 

 nounced that Russia was desirous of seeing the 

 finances of Turkey restored to a satisfactory 

 footing, and would not therefore offer any op- 

 position to the scheme of a loan contracted un- 

 der the guarantee of England, on condition that 

 the war indemnity be simultaneously settled. 

 A statement by the Minister of Finance to the 

 Financial Commission showed that the revenue 

 of the empire was 16,000,000 Turkish. 



A new Ministry was formed about the 1st of 

 December, composed as follows: Khereddine 

 Pasha, Grand Vizier; Ahmed Assad Effendi, 

 Sheik-ul-Islam ; Ghazi Osman Pasha, Minister 



