460 



GEEECE. 



side of the present frontier line the population 

 was a mixed one of Greeks, Albanians, and 

 "Wallachs, Mohammedans and Christians. Not 

 the Greeks alone, but all of these, had a right 

 to be considered in any eventual cession of 

 territory to Greece. In reply to all this, the 

 Greek Commissioners said that they could pro- 

 pose no other line but that indicated in the 

 13th protocol, their instructions forbidding 

 their entering into negotiations on any other 

 basis, and much less themselves proposing an- 

 other. Minister Delyannis, on receiving the 

 report of the Greek Commissioners, had re- 

 course to M. Waddington, informing him of the 

 state of the case; whereupon the latter sent 

 a note to the Porte, expressing the regret of 

 the French Government at the slow progress 

 of the negotiations, and supporting the view of 

 the Greek Government that the basis of nego- 

 tiations could only be that laid down in the 

 13th protocol. The negotiations were again 

 taken up, and in the beginning of April a 

 new frontier line was proposed by the Porte. 

 On the side of Thessaly, the line followed 

 nearly that indicated in the protocol, including 

 Volo, Larissa, and Agrafa. In Epirus it in- 

 cluded the valley of the Arta, together with the 

 town of that name Janina and Preveso, how- 

 ever, remaining in the hands of the Turks. On 

 April 6th a deputation of Epirotes presented 

 an address to the King praying him not to 

 consent to the abandonment of the demand of 

 the cession of Janina to Greece, as such a 

 course would seriously affect Greek interests. 

 The King in reply said that the question was 

 one of vital importance to Greece, and ex- 

 pressed a hope that the Great Powers would 

 never commit the injustice of refusing the 

 claim of Greece to Janina. On June 22d the 

 dragomans of the British, French, German, 

 Italian, and Russian embassies presented to 

 Caratheodori Pasha, the Turkish Minister of 

 Foreign Affairs, identical notes urging the Porte 

 to appoint commissioners for the settlement of 

 the question of the Greek frontier. In the 

 beginning of July the Turkish Government 

 officially notified the Powers of its readiness 

 to appoint the commissioners, and soon after 

 appointed Aarifi, Munif, and Nedjib Pashas. 

 Upon the change in the Turkish Ministry, how- 

 ever, these names were recalled, and on Au- 

 gust 16th Safvet, Sawas, and AH Said Pashas 

 appointed in their places. In August the 

 Turkish Government concentrated large num- 

 bers of troops on the frontier, under the com- 

 mand of Edhem Pasha, who hastened to take 

 up good positions in front of the town of La- 

 rissa. Still more remarkable than these move- 

 ments of troops was the distribution of arms 

 which had been ordered by the Turkish Minis- 

 ter of War amon? the Albanian Mohammedans, 

 amounting to 6,400 Snider guns and 5,000 per- 

 cussion guns, with a considerable quantity of 

 ammunition. The Mohammedans on receiving 

 these arms were instructed not to leave their 

 homes, but to hold themselves in readiness for 



marching. This distribution among fanatical 

 Mohammedans created considerable uneasiness 

 among the Christian population of Epirus and 

 Thessaly. 



The first meeting of the new Turco-Greek 

 Commission was held on August 22d, when 

 the Commissioners exchanged credentials and 

 discussed the course of procedure. Safvet 

 Pasha declared to the Greeks that the Sublime 

 Porte was ready to accept the frontier sug- 

 gested by the Treaty of Berlin as the basis of 

 negotiations, but at the same time repeated 

 all the reserves and protests it had formerly 

 urged in this respect. He also declared that 

 the Porte contested the obligatory character 

 of the protocol. The discussion on this ques- 

 tion of the obligatory or non-obligatory char- 

 acter of the protocol was continued in the fol- 

 lowing sessions. In the fourth session, held 

 on September llth, the Greek delegates, while 

 maintaining their view of the question, sug- 

 gested that, as neither party wished to impose 

 its view on the other, the general question as 

 to the obligatory or non-obligatory character 

 of the protocol might be for the moment left 

 in abeyance, and the more practical question 

 as to the new line of frontier might be dis- 

 cussed. Safvet Pasha thereupon prepared and 

 read a short memorandum, in which he ex- 

 pressed satisfaction that the Hellenic pleni- 

 potentiaries had somewhat approached the 

 point of view of the Ottoman Government, 

 and declared that he and his colleagues were 

 ready to enter upon the practical question, 

 taking the 13th protocol as the basis of the 

 negotiations. Another session, held on Octo- 

 ber 5th, brought out a declaration from the 

 Greek delegates, which had been approved by 

 the Powers, that the 13th protocol of the Ber- 

 lin Congress should be taken as a starting- 

 point in the negotiations. The Turkish dele- 

 gates, however, insisted that the indications 

 in the protocol must be susceptible of modifi- 

 cations. The meeting then adjourned to allow 

 the Greek delegates to communicate with their 

 Government. Another meeting was held on Oc- 

 tober 24th, when the Turkish delegates declared 

 that the part of Thessaly and Epirus which was 

 left to Turkey by the line of frontier indicated 

 in the 13th protocol would be in an isolated 

 position and without a port, and that it was 

 therefore impossible to accept it. The Greek 

 members of the Commission stated their de- 

 mands, and Sawas Pasha, Turkish Minister for 

 Foreign Affairs, addressed a note to the Pow- 

 ers, pointing out that these demands exceeded 

 the frontier line indicated in the 13th protocol. 

 At a meeting of the Commission held on No- 

 vember 17th, the line of frontier proposed by 

 the Porte was indicated, giving Greece an ex- 

 tension of frontier to the west, but leaving 

 Turkey almost the whole of Epirus. 



Elections for the Chambers were held on 

 October 5th. All the Ministers were returned 

 except those of Marine and Justice, and a ma- 

 jority for the Ministry was secured. The 



