TURKEY. 



833 



which was adopted to satisfy the multitude 

 (U-cl:iri-(l that, llifv would rather close their 

 simp-. In this critical situation the Minister of 

 Finance had some 10,000 lira worth of cainu's 

 bought on account of the Treasury on the Ex- 

 change, while tho police kept a watch on the 

 money-changers in tho streets and bazaars, 

 who by offering caimds for sale might disturb 

 the operations on the Exchange. This mea- 

 sure had tho desired effect, and in a single day 

 the caimes went down from 420 piasters to 

 176. On January 27th Zuhdi Pasha, Minister 

 of Finance, was dismissed, and his immediate 

 predecessor, Kiani Pasha, was put in his place. 

 Zuhdi had been appointed on the faith of his 

 assurances that he would find ways and means 

 for withdrawing tho paper currency, or at least 

 permanently raising its value ; and as his ef- 

 forts had been entirely unsuccessful he was 

 dismissed. Ono moro attempt was made to 

 solve the paper-currency question without a 

 foreign loan. For this purpose an imperial re- 

 script was published about March 22d provid- 

 ing that henceforth four fifths of all sums due 

 to the Government should be paid in coin, and 

 one fifth in paper, calculated at one fourth of 

 the nominal value. On tho other hand, the Gov- 

 ernment would henceforth make all payments 

 in gold and silver, except for debts previously 

 contracted. The immediate effect of this mea- 

 sure was a now and very great depreciation of 

 the paper money, the value of the gold lira ris- 

 ing from 480 to 600 piasters within a few days. 

 In the latter part of April the Government 

 ordered that henceforth caimes should be re- 

 ceivable for taxes at the rate of 400 paper pias- 

 ters for one lira. On April 29th Kiani Pasha 

 was dismissed from the Ministry of Finance, 

 and his predecessor, Zuhdi Effendi, appointed 

 in his place. 



On July 28th an imperial irade was published 

 suppressing the Grand Vizierate, and appoint- 

 ing Aarifi Pasha Prime Minister and Safvet 

 Pasha Minister for Foreign Affairs. 



The financial depression existing throughout 

 the various branches of the Government led to 

 an important step in October, when the Sultan 

 ordered the disbandment of 90,000 regular 

 troops, the Finance Minister threatening to re- 

 sign unless the Sultan took this step. 



A new Cabinet was formed on October 18th, 

 composed as follows : Said Pasha, Grand Vi- 

 zier ; Sawas Pasha, Minister for Foreign Affairs ; 

 Mahmoud Nedim Pasha, Minister of the Inte- 

 rior ; Aarifi Pasha, President of the Council of 

 State ; Safvet Pasha, Inspector- General of Ad- 

 ministration ; Jevdet Pasha, Minister of Jus- 

 tice ; Cadri Pasha, Minister of Commerce ; and 

 Edif Effendi, Minister of Finance. Osrnan Pa- 

 sha remained Minister of "War. 



In the beginning of November energetic 

 measures were taken by the British Govern- 

 ment to secure the introduction of reforms in 

 Asia Minor, which had been promised by the 

 Porte. Admiral Hornby, the commander of 

 the British Mediterranean squadron, received 

 VOL. xix. 53 A 



orders to take his squadron into Turkish waters 

 by November 8th. Great excitement prevailed 

 at tho Porto in consequence, and Sir Ansten 

 Layard, tho British Ambassador, having been 

 requested by the Porto to explain the object 

 of the dispatch of Admiral Hornby's squadron, 

 semi-officinlly replied that the squadron would 

 ivmain for the present at Voulan, but eventu- 

 ally might proceed to some other Turkish port, 

 as England would not tolerate tho oppression 

 of the Christians in Asiatic Turkey. Sir Aus- 

 ten Layard said in a dispatch referring to a 

 movement for the formation of an autonomous 

 state in Armenia : " I have warned the Porte 

 over and over ajain that unless it speedily in- 

 troduced the retorms to which it has pledged 

 itself in the Asiatic dominions of tho Sultan, 

 and can assure the protection and the just and 

 equal government of the populations, the ques- 

 tion of an Armenian natiouality, and even of 

 other nationalities, may be raised, which will 

 probably end in further diminishing the author- 

 ity and territory of his Majesty." The Porte, 

 receiving no official explanations regarding tho 

 British squadron, telegraphed to Musurus Pa- 

 sha, the Turkish Ambassador in London, in- 

 structing him to ask Lord Salisbury for in- 

 formation. The interview between Musurus 

 Pasha and Lord Salisbury was a very stormy 

 one. The result was that the dispatch of the 

 fleet to Voulah was countermanded, the Brit- 

 ish Government at the same time stipulating 

 for the fulfillment of certain conditions by tho 

 Porte. In its attitude England was supported 

 by Austria, and even Russia was generally 

 thought to have advised the Turkish Govern- 

 ment that it would be necessary to introduce 

 the required reforms. In view of the pressure 

 brought to bear upon him, the Sultan conclud- 

 ed to take the steps demanded of him. On 

 November 17th Baker Pasha was appointed 

 the Sultan's representative to superintend the 

 introduction of reforms throughout Asia Mi- 

 nor ; and on the 18th an official declaration was 

 published on the proposed measures. The docu- 

 ment declared that formal orders had now been 

 given to prepare and execute the measures best 

 fitted for assuring to all classes of tho popula- 

 tion the benefits of equal justice and for devel- 

 oping in general the prosperity of the country. 

 The Council of Ministers had arranged the ne- 

 cessary reforms in two categories. The first 

 included a project of statutes for the administra- 

 tive reorganization of the European provinces 

 statutes which had to be sent into the vila- 

 yets and to be there submitted to a preliminary 

 examination by tho local commissions. This 

 category likewise included immediate execu- 

 tion of the reforms necessary for the reorgani- 

 zation of the administrative system in Asia and 

 other localities of the empire. The second cat- 

 egory comprehended the reorganization of the 

 Ministry and of all branches of the public ad- 

 ministration, so as to insure the speedy execu- 

 tion of affairs, the proper distribution of work 

 by the various administrations according to 



